REVIEW article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Clinical and Translational Cardiovascular Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1629016
Pyroptosis in Cardiovascular Diseases: Roles, Mechanisms, and Clinical Implications
Provisionally accepted
- 1Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- 2Qiaokou District People's Hospital, Wuhan, China
- 3Jingshan Union Hospital, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jingshan, China
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Pyroptosis is an inflammatory form of programmed cell death, distinct from apoptosis, necroptosis, and ferroptosis, and is primarily mediated by gasdermin proteins and inflammatory caspases. Recent advances highlight the central role of pyroptosis in the pathogenesis and progression of a spectrum of cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction, myocarditis, heart failure, atherosclerosis, hypertension, and cardiac arrhythmias. Activation of inflammasomes and the subsequent cleavage of gasdermins drive cell membrane pore formation, leading to the release of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and other pro-inflammatory mediators, amplifying tissue injury and sterile inflammation. Both experimental and clinical evidence reveal that targeting key molecules in the pyroptotic pathway, such as NLRP3 inflammasome, caspase-1, and gasdermin D, can attenuate myocardial injury, inhibit adverse cardiac remodeling, and stabilise atherosclerotic plaques. This review systematically summarises the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of pyroptosis in cardiovascular pathology, details its disease-specific roles, and discusses translational and therapeutic perspectives. Modulating pyroptosis may provide new opportunities for the diagnosis, risk stratification, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Keywords: pyroptosis, Cardiovascular Diseases, Myocardial Infarction, Myocarditis, Heart Failure, Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, arrhythmia Abbreviations: AF: Atrial fibrillation CVB3: Coxsackievirus B3 CVDs: Cardiovascular diseases
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 17 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Niu, Wang, Zhang, Zou and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yanqiang Zou, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Cheng Zhou, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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