However, the death of tumour cells via pyroptosis is often dampened by epigenetic silencing of GSDME, as hypermethylation of GSDME promoter is found in about 52%–65% of primary cancers (Op de Beeck et al., 2011) including colorectal cancer (Kim et al., 2008a; Yokomizo et al., 2012) and GC (Akino et al., 2007). Here, GSDME is linked to cancer.