The inflammasome is a multi protein complex that is an important component of the innate immune response. The inflammasome is able to sense and respond to pathogen infections by recognizing pathogen-associated molecular patterns and mediating the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Of the various types of inflammasomes, NLRP3/NALP3 is unique because of the diverse range of microbes it is able to detect (1). Once assembled and activated, the NLRP3/NALP3 inflammasome mediates the caspase-1 dependent activation of into its active secreted form interleukin-1 into its active secreted form (1). Although important for responding to pathogen infections, the NLRP3/NALP3 inflammasome is also involved in chronic inflammatory and age-related diseases such as atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's, and inflammatory bowel disease (1). Misactivation of the NLRP3/NALP3 inflammasome contributes to these diseases and may be targeted either through inhibiting inflammasome assembly or by blocking interleukin-1 activity (1). Various experimental drugs employing these strategies are under development (1).
NLRP3/NALP3 antibodies have been used extensively to look at inflammasome activation following various stimuli. Wang et al. performed western blots on kidney cells using NLRP3/NALP3 antibodies to monitor inflammasome activation in response to diabetes-associated kidney injury (2). Similarly, a study on kidney damage caused by high-fructose intake used NLRP3/NALP3 antibodies to monitor inflammasome activation (3). This study identified betaine supplementation as a method to protect against renal dysfunction by blocking inflammation (3). An NIH investigation of the ability of hepatitis C to attenuate interferon production used NLRP3/NALP3 antibodies to monitor inflammasome activation (4). This study demonstrated inflammasome activation and interferon production in healthy monocytes while infected monocytes showed reduced function (4). An investigation by Li et al. sought to identify the neuronal protection mechanism of curcumin, a natural product (5). Using NLRP3/NALP3 antibodies the group monitored inflammasome expression and activation by western blotting (5). Their results show curcumin protects from neurotoxicity by inhibiting inflammasome activation associated with ER-stress (5).
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