TRIM21 regulates pyroptotic cell death by promoting Gasdermin D oligomerization

  • Wenqing Gao
  • , Yuanyuan Li
  • , Xuehe Liu
  • , Sen Wang
  • , Pucheng Mei
  • , Zijun Chen
  • , Kewei Liu
  • , Suhua Li
  • , Xue Wei Xu
  • , Jianhua Gan
  • , Jiaxue Wu
  • , Chaoneng Ji
  • , Chen Ding
  • , Xing Liu
  • , Yuping Lai
  • , Housheng Hansen He
  • , Judy Lieberman
  • , Hao Wu
  • , Xiangjun Chen*
  • , Jixi Li*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

Gasdermin-D (GSDMD), the executioner of pyroptotic cell death when it is cleaved by inflammatory caspases, plays a crucial role in host defense and the response to danger signals. So far, there are no known mechanisms, other than cleavage, for regulating GSDMD. Here, we show that tripartite motif protein TRIM21 acts as a positive regulator of GSDMD-dependent pyroptosis. TRIM21 interacted with GSDMD via its PRY-SPRY domain, maintaining GSDMD stable expression in resting cells yet inducing the N-terminus of GSDMD (GSDMD-N) aggregation during pyroptosis. TRIM21-deficient cells displayed a reduced cell death in response to NLRP3 or NLRC4 inflammasome activation. Genetic ablation of TRIM21 in mice conferred protection from LPS-induced inflammation and dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis. Therefore, TRIM21 plays an essential role in GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis and may be a viable target for controlling and treating inflammation-associated diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)439-450
Number of pages12
JournalCell Death and Differentiation
Volume29
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2022

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