The in vitro BCG Moreau infection of human monocytes that induces Caspase-1 expression, release and dependent cell death is mostly reliant upon cell integrity.

Background: Caused by , tuberculosis (TB) is an extremely contagious disease predominantly affecting the lungs. TB is found worldwide and has a major impact on public health safety primarily due to its high mortality rate. Applied for over a hundred years as a preventive measure, BCG remains the only available TB vaccine.

21-Benzylidene digoxin: a proapoptotic cardenolide of cancer cells that up-regulates Na,K-ATPase and epithelial tight junctions.

Cardiotonic steroids are used to treat heart failure and arrhythmia and have promising anticancer effects. The prototypic cardiotonic steroid ouabain may also be a hormone that modulates epithelial cell adhesion. Cardiotonic steroids consist of a steroid nucleus and a lactone ring, and their biological effects depend on the binding to their receptor, Na,K-ATPase, through which, they inhibit Na+ and K+ ion transport and activate of several intracellular signaling pathways.