Gasdermin (GSDM or GSDMA), expressed in the upper gastrointestinal tract but 
frequently silenced in gastric cancers (GCs), regulates apoptosis of the gastric 
epithelium. It has three human homologs, GSDMB, GSDMC, and GSDMD (GSDM family) 
and they are considered to be involved in the regulation of epithelial apoptosis 
but not yet known. We investigated the expression pattern of the family genes in 
the upper gastrointestinal epithelium and cancers. Reverse 
transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction revealed that, unlike GSDMA expressed in 
differentiated cells, GSDMB is expressed in proliferating cells and GSDMD in 
differentiating cells. GSDMC, meanwhile, is expressed in both differentiating 
and differentiated cells. Colony formation assay showed that GSDMB, closely 
related to GSDMA, has no cell-growth inhibition activity in gastric cancer 
cells, and that GSDMC and GSDMD, respectively, exhibit the activity with 
different strengths from that of GSDMA. Expression analyses of the four family 
genes in esophageal and GCs suggested that GSDMC and GSDMD as well as GSDMA are 
tumor suppressors and that GSDMB, which was amplified and overexpressed in some 
GCs, could be an oncogene. The results of the expression analysis and colony 
formation assay suggest that each family gene may have a distinct function in 
the upper gastrointestinal epithelium.