Andreas Hecker, Mira Küllmar, Sigrid Wilker, Katrin Richter, Anna Zakrzewicz, Srebrena Atanasova, Verena Mathes, Thomas Timm, Sabrina Lerner, Jochen Klein, Andreas Kaufmann, Stefan Bauer, Winfried Padberg, Wolfgang Kummer, Sabina Janciauskiene, Martin Fronius, Elke K H Schweda, Günter Lochnit, Veronika Grau
IL-1β is a potent proinflammatory cytokine of the innate immune system that is involved in host defense against infection. However, increased production of IL-1β plays a pathogenic role in various inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, gout, sepsis, stroke, and transplant rejection. To prevent detrimental collateral damage, IL-1β release is tightly controlled and typically requires two consecutive danger signals. LPS from Gram-negative bacteria is a prototypical first signal inducing pro-IL-1β synthesis, whereas extracellular ATP is a typical second signal sensed by the ATP receptor P2X7 that triggers activation of the NLRP3-containing inflammasome, proteolytic cleavage of pro-IL-1β by caspase-1, and release of mature IL-1β...
September 1, 2015: Journal of Immunology