CASP3 and neoplasm: However, the researchers also pointed out that GSDME expression was low in most tumor cell lines due to GSDME gene promoter methylation, while GSDME was widely overexpressed in normal cell lines.16,17 Therefore, chemotherapy could also induce caspase-3-mediated pyroptosis in normal cells with high expression of GSDME, which may be one of the causes of toxicity and side effects associated with chemotherapy.