Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106.
Graduate Program in Physiology and Biophysics, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jun 26;115(26):6792-6797. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1800562115. Epub 2018 Jun 11.
The inflammasomes are signaling platforms that promote the activation of inflammatory caspases such as caspases-1, -4, -5, and -11. Recent studies identified gasdermin D (GSDMD) as an effector for pyroptosis downstream of the inflammasome signaling pathways. Cleavage of GSDMD by inflammatory caspases allows its N-terminal domain to associate with membrane lipids and form pores that induce pyroptotic cell death. Despite the important role of GSDMD in pyroptosis, the molecular mechanisms of GSDMD recognition and cleavage by inflammatory caspases that trigger pyroptosis are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the catalytic domains of inflammatory caspases can directly bind to both the full-length GSDMD and its cleavage site peptide, FLTD. A GSDMD-derived inhibitor, -acetyl-Phe-Leu-Thr-Asp-chloromethylketone (Ac-FLTD-CMK), inhibits GSDMD cleavage by caspases-1, -4, -5, and -11 in vitro, suppresses pyroptosis downstream of both canonical and noncanonical inflammasomes, as well as reduces IL-1β release following activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages. By contrast, the inhibitor does not target caspase-3 or apoptotic cell death, suggesting that Ac-FLTD-CMK is a specific inhibitor for inflammatory caspases. Crystal structure of caspase-1 in complex with Ac-FLTD-CMK reveals extensive enzyme-inhibitor interactions involving both hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic contacts. Comparison with other caspase-1 structures demonstrates drastic conformational changes at the four active-site loops that assemble the catalytic groove. The present study not only contributes to our understanding of GSDMD recognition by inflammatory caspases but also reports a specific inhibitor for these caspases that can serve as a tool for investigating inflammasome signaling.
炎症小体是信号平台,可促进炎性半胱天冬酶(如半胱天冬酶-1、-4、-5 和-11)的激活。最近的研究确定了 Gasdermin D(GSDMD)为炎症小体信号通路下游细胞焦亡的效应物。炎性半胱天冬酶对 GSDMD 的切割使它的 N 端结构域与膜脂质结合,并形成孔,诱导细胞焦亡死亡。尽管 GSDMD 在细胞焦亡中具有重要作用,但炎性半胱天冬酶识别和切割 GSDMD 以触发细胞焦亡的分子机制还知之甚少。在这里,我们证明炎性半胱天冬酶的催化结构域可以直接结合全长 GSDMD 和其切割位点肽 FLTD。GSDMD 衍生抑制剂,-乙酰基-Phe-Leu-Thr-Asp-氯甲基酮(Ac-FLTD-CMK),在体外抑制半胱天冬酶-1、-4、-5 和-11 对半胱天冬酶的切割,抑制经典和非经典炎症小体下游的细胞焦亡,以及在巨噬细胞中激活 NLRP3 炎症小体后减少白细胞介素-1β的释放。相比之下,抑制剂不针对半胱天冬酶-3 或细胞凋亡,表明 Ac-FLTD-CMK 是炎性半胱天冬酶的特异性抑制剂。半胱天冬酶-1 与 Ac-FLTD-CMK 复合物的晶体结构揭示了广泛的酶-抑制剂相互作用,涉及氢键和疏水接触。与其他半胱天冬酶-1 结构的比较表明,在组装催化槽的四个活性位点环上发生了剧烈的构象变化。本研究不仅有助于我们理解炎症小体对半胱天冬酶的识别,而且还报道了一种针对这些半胱天冬酶的特异性抑制剂,可作为研究炎症小体信号的工具。