Abstract: Pyroptosis is a form of programmed cell death characterized by the cleavage of gasdermin (GSDM) family proteins that form pores in the plasma membrane, cell rupture, and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In this study, we performed immunohistochemistry for cleaved GSDMD, GSDME-N-terminal, and GSDMC in two different cohorts of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and analyzed their prognostic and immune impact. The results showed frequent cleaved GSDMD (GSDMD-N-terminal) expression. Only cytoplasmic GSDMD-N-terminal expression correlated with significantly better patient survival in two cohorts. In contrast, GSDME was mainly expressed in the vascular endothelium, correlated with significantly adverse prognostic effect. Correlating with the multiplex fluorescent immunohistochemistry (mfIHC) results, we found that cytoplasmic GSDMD-N-terminal expression was associated with increased CD38+ (activated) M1 macrophages in both cohorts, cognate interactions between live DLBCL cells and activated M1 macrophages (and T cells), and lower PD-1/PD-L1 expression in the analyzed cases. In contrast, T cell pyroptosis, lymphoma cell resistance to cell death, and phagocytosis by M2 macrophages were observed in cells with nuclear GSDMD-N-terminal expression. Bulk gene expression profiling and deconvolution analysis for patients with cytoplasmic GSDMD-N-terminal expression revealed downregulation of "Don't eat me" signaling genes, upregulation of many RNA genes, decreased frequency of "Inflammatory" lymphoma microenvironment subtype, increased abundance of prognostically favorable cell states and ecotypes, and decreased abundance of T cell exhaustion state. In summary, this study showed distinct cellular and subcellular patterns of three gasdermin proteins and their associated immune response phenotypes and prognostic effects, with implications for novel therapeutic strategies for B-cell lymphoma.
