Inflammasomes are important in human health and disease, whereby they control the
secretion of IL-1β and IL-18, two potent proinflammatory cytokines that play a key role in
inflammatory responses to pathogens and danger signals. Several inflammasomes have
been discovered over the past two decades. NLRP3 inflammasome is the best characterized
and can be activated by a wide variety of inducers. It is composed of a sensor, NLRP3, an
adapter protein, ASC, and an effector enzyme, caspase-1. After activation, caspase-1 …

Inflammation is a host protection mechanism that eliminates invasive pathogens from the
body. However, chronic inflammation, which occurs repeatedly and continuously over a long
period, can directly damage tissues and cause various inflammatory and autoimmune
diseases. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) respond to exogenous infectious agents
called pathogen-associated molecular patterns and endogenous danger signals called
danger-associated molecular patterns. Among PRRs, recent advancements in studies of the …