1. PKR stirs up inflammasomes.
- Author
-
Stunden HJ and Latz E
- Subjects
- Animals, Humans, NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein, Carrier Proteins metabolism, Inflammasomes metabolism, Nitric Oxide metabolism, Shock, Septic prevention & control
- Abstract
Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes that detect and respond to foreign and endogenous danger signals by activating caspase-1; active caspase-1, in turn, matures the pro-inflammatory IL-1β family cytokines by cleaving their pro-forms into the biologically active cytokines. The upstream mechanisms leading to inflammasome activation, in particular for the NRLP3 inflammasome, remain poorly understood. Lu and colleagues identify a new function of Protein Kinase R (PKR) for activating the NLRP1, NLRP3, NLRC4 and AIM2 inflammasomes, thus identifying a potential new target for treating inflammasome-mediated diseases.
- Published
- 2013
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