Caspase-1 cleaves Bid to release mitochondrial SMAC and drive secondary necrosis in the absence of GSDMD

Rosalie Heilig, Marisa Dilucca, Dave Boucher, Kaiwen W Chen, Dora Hancz, Benjamin Demarco, Kateryna Shkarina, Petr Broz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Caspase-1 drives a lytic inflammatory cell death named pyroptosis by cleaving the pore-forming cell death executor gasdermin-D (GSDMD). Gsdmd deficiency, however, only delays cell lysis, indicating that caspase-1 controls alternative cell death pathways. Here, we show that in the absence of GSDMD, caspase-1 activates apoptotic initiator and executioner caspases and triggers a rapid progression into secondary necrosis. GSDMD-independent cell death required direct caspase-1-driven truncation of Bid and generation of caspase-3 p19/p12 by either caspase-8 or caspase-9. tBid-induced mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization was also required to drive SMAC release and relieve inhibitor of apoptosis protein inhibition of caspase-3, thereby allowing caspase-3 auto-processing to the fully active p17/p12 form. Our data reveal that cell lysis in inflammasome-activated Gsdmd-deficient cells is caused by a synergistic effect of rapid caspase-1-driven activation of initiator caspases-8/-9 and Bid cleavage, resulting in an unusually fast activation of caspase-3 and immediate transition into secondary necrosis. This pathway might be advantageous for the host in counteracting pathogen-induced inhibition of GSDMD but also has implications for the use of GSDMD inhibitors in immune therapies for caspase-1-dependent inflammatory disease.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere202000735
Number of pages15
JournalLife science alliance
Volume3
Issue number6
Early online date28 Apr 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

© 2020 Heilig et al.

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