Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2025

Evaluation of Caspase Activation to Assess Innate Immune Cell Death
Published on: January 20, 2023
Capers with caspases: Toxoplasma gondii tales of inflammation and survival
Stephanie Y Matsuno1, William J Pandori1, Melissa B Lodoen1
1Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617 USA.
Abstract:
Intracellular pathogens strike a delicate balance between maintaining their survival within infected cells, while also activating host defense mechanisms. Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that initiates a variety of host signaling pathways as it invades host cells and establishes residence in a parasitophorous vacuole. Recent work has highlighted the interplay between T. gondii infection and innate immune pathways that lead to inflammation, several of which converge on caspases. This family of cysteine proteases function at the crossroads of inflammation and cell death and serve as a key target for parasite manipulation. This review focuses on the interaction of T. gondii with caspase-dependent inflammatory and cell death pathways and the role of parasite effector proteins in modulating these processes.
Related Concept Videos
Caspases
The Extrinsic Apoptotic Pathway
The Intrinsic Apoptotic Pathway
Apoptosis
Overview of Cell Death
Cell death was observed in the early 19th century, but there was no experimental evidence to prove it. In 1842, Carl Vogt first discovered cell death in a metamorphic toad; however, it was not termed ‘cell death.’ Scientists discovered different cell death pathways only in the...
Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells
Normal cells contain receptors that prevent them from being recognized...

