Life Sciences Research Unit, University of Luxembourg, 162a Avenue de la Faïencerie, Luxembourg.
Curr Opin Immunol. 2013 Jun;25(3):359-65. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2013.02.008. Epub 2013 Mar 7.
Inflammasomes are protein complexes that form in response to pathogen-derived or host-derived stress signals. Their activation leads to the production of inflammatory cytokines and promotes a pyrogenic cell death process. The massive release of inflammatory mediators that follows inflammasome activation is a key event in alarming innate immune cells. Growing evidence also highlights the role of inflammasome-dependent cytokines in shaping the adaptive immune response, as exemplified by the capacity of IL-1β to support Th17 responses, or by the finding that IL-18 evokes antigen-independent IFN-γ secretion by memory CD8(+) T cells. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms and on how to manipulate this powerful inflammatory system therefore represents an important step forward in the development of improved vaccine strategies.
炎症小体是一种蛋白质复合物，可对病原体衍生或宿主衍生的应激信号做出响应。其激活会导致炎症细胞因子的产生，并促进发热性细胞死亡过程。炎症小体激活后大量释放炎症介质是警报固有免疫细胞的关键事件。越来越多的证据也突出了炎症小体依赖性细胞因子在塑造适应性免疫反应中的作用，例如 IL-1β 支持 Th17 反应的能力，或者发现 IL-18 引起记忆性 CD8(+)T 细胞非抗原依赖性 IFN-γ 分泌。因此，深入了解这些机制以及如何操纵这个强大的炎症系统是开发改良疫苗策略的重要一步。
