Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Cell death

Gasdermin pores on extracellular vesicles spread cell death

Nature Reviews Immunology (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Pyroptosis, an inflammatory form of cell death, is caused by gasdermin pores in the cell membrane. These form when activated caspases cleave the pore-forming N-terminal fragment of gasdermin D (GSDMD) from the autoinhibitory C-terminal fragment. Although pyroptosis is important for antimicrobial and anti-tumour immunity, it can also trigger excessive inflammation. A study in Cell now demonstrates that GSDMD pores can be transplanted from cell to cell via extracellular vesicles (EVs) and cause death of bystander cells.

Wright et al. investigated the nature of bystander pyroptosis using in vitro and in vivo models and engineered cells in which pyroptosis can be induced with doxycycline. Intercellular propagation of pyroptosis was found to be contact independent, but instead transferred by EVs from pyroptotic cells. Super-resolution microscopy showed that GSDMD is present in the pore conformation on EVs and that pre-existing pores can be transferred to the recipient cell surface without cellular uptake of the EV.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

Original article

  • Wright, S. S. et al. Transplantation of gasdermin pores by extracellular vesicles propagates pyroptosis to bystander cells. Cell 188, 1–12 (2025)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Immunology http://www.nature.com/nri/

    Alexandra Flemming

Authors
  1. Alexandra Flemming
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Flemming.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Flemming, A. Gasdermin pores on extracellular vesicles spread cell death. Nat Rev Immunol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-025-01133-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-025-01133-w

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing