Fig. 7

IRF2 directly induced transcriptional expression of GSDMD, mediating pyroptosis in NP cells. (A) Analysis of the expression correlation between IRF2 and GSDMD through the GEPIA database (R = 0.92, P < 0.001); (B-D and K-N) Western blotting of IRF2, GSDMD, GSDMD-N, Caspase1(P20), IL-18, and IL-1β and quantitative analysis in different groups; (F-G and O-P) IF staining and quantitative assessment of IRF2, GSDMD, IL-1β, and Caspase1 in different groups (scale bar = 20–100 μm); (H-I) Dual-luciferase reporter assay showing that GSDMD was a target of IRF2 in 293T and NP cells; (J) ChIP-PCR gel electrophoresis analysis of IRF2 and the GSDMD promoter revealed that IRF2 is capable of binding to the GSDMD promoter region in both 293T and NP cells; (Q-R) Calcein/PI staining of NP cells and quantitative assessment in different experimental groups (scale bar = 100 μm). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 versus NC. The values are presented as the means ± SD from at least three independent experiments