DCMB Seminar | Ed Miao, Professor of Immunology, DUMC | Exploding cells by pyroptosis to eradicate intracellular infection

Bacteria attempt to hide from the immune system by invading our cells and replicating in the intracellular environment. Once infected, a host cell becomes an agent of the enemy. The solution? The infected cell must die. Regulated cell death comes in several forms, most commonly known is apoptosis that results in the orderly disassembly of cells. Another form of cell death is the violent sibling of apoptosis called pyroptosis, where cells literally explode. We will describe how infected cells recognize that they are compromised, using a variety of sensing mechanisms. These include detection of the bacterial type III secretion system virulence factors, as well as detection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide inside the infected cell. We will describe in vivo mouse infection models where we discover the critical importance of pyroptosis in defense, and how these detection events manifest differently depending on the type of cell infected. Zoom passcode 764291