The type of cell death, i.e. apoptosis, autophagy, necrosis or pyroptosis, depends on the inducing
factor and the phase of the cell cycle. The main role in immunological response to microorganisms
is played by a process called pyroptosis. Pyroptosis induces various types of inflammatory
factors in response to molecular patterns associated with pathogens, e.g., bacterial lipopolysaccharide
in the canonical or non-canonical pathway depending on the type of caspases involved.
In pyroptosis, the gasdermin D protein belonging to the gasdermin protein family (A, B, C, D, E
and DFNB59) plays an important role, which is characterized by specific tissue gene expression
mainly in epithelial cells, skin and the digestive system and is responsible for regulating the proliferation
and differentiation of cells and is responsible for inhibiting or developing cancers in
various organs. The GSDM family is responsible for the formation of pores in the cell membrane,
enabling the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-18) involved in initiating inflammatory
response pathways by recruiting and activating immune cells at the site of infection.
The gasdermin D protein plays an essential role in the non-canonical pyroptosis process, whose
N-terminal forming pores in the cell membrane leads to edema, osmotic lysis and, consequently,
to the death of the infected cell.