Inflammasome-Dependent Cytokines at the Crossroads of Health and Autoinflammatory Disease

  1. Mohamed Lamkanfi1,2
  1. 1Center for Inflammation Research, VIB, Zwijnaarde B-9052, Belgium
  2. 2Department of Internal Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent B-9000, Belgium
  1. Correspondence: mohamed.lamkanfi{at}irc.vib-ugent.be

Abstract

As key regulators of both innate and adaptive immunity, it is unsurprising that the activity of interleukin (IL)-1 cytokine family members is tightly controlled by decoy receptors, antagonists, and a variety of other mechanisms. Additionally, inflammasome-mediated proteolytic maturation is a prominent and distinguishing feature of two important members of this cytokine family, IL-1β and IL-18, because their full-length gene products are biologically inert. Although vital in antimicrobial host defense, deregulated inflammasome signaling is linked with a growing number of autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. Here, we focus on introducing the diverse inflammasome types and discussing their causal roles in periodic fever syndromes. Therapies targeting IL-1 or IL-18 show great efficacy in some of these autoinflammatory diseases, although further understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to unregulated production of these key cytokines is required to benefit more patients.



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      1. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol. 11: a028563 Copyright © 2019 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved

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