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CELL DEATH

A matter of life and death for caspase 8

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 21, page 63 (2020)Cite this article

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Cells can control their own death as part of normal development or in response to pathogens and toxins. Although apoptosis allows the non-inflammatory clearance of cells from the body, other forms of programmed cell death, including necroptosis and pyroptosis, induce an inflammatory response to intracellular pathogens.

Now, studies by Fritsch et al. and Newton et al., both published in Nature, describe an additional role for caspase 8 in mediating pyroptosis when apoptosis and necroptosis are inhibited.

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Original articles

  • Newton, K. et al. Activity of caspase-8 determines plasticity between cell death pathways. Nature 575, 679–682 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fritsch, M. et al. Caspase-8 is the molecular switch for apoptosis, necroptosis and pyroptosis. Nature 575, 683–687 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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  1. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology http://www.nature.com/nrm/

    Joseph Willson

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  1. Joseph Willson
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Correspondence to Joseph Willson.

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Willson, J. A matter of life and death for caspase 8. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 21, 63 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-019-0201-8

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