Department of Medical Protein Research, VIB, Albert Baertsoenkaai 3, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium.
Semin Immunopathol. 2015 Jul;37(4):313-22. doi: 10.1007/s00281-015-0485-5. Epub 2015 Apr 21.
Over recent years, inflammasomes have emerged as key regulators of immune and inflammatory responses. They induce programmed cell death and direct the release of danger signals and the inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18. The concerted actions of inflammasomes are of utmost importance for responding adequately to harmful environmental agents and infections. However, deregulated inflammasome signaling is increasingly linked to a diversity of human pathologies, including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and rare, hereditary periodic fever syndromes. In this review, we discuss recent insight in the protective and detrimental roles of inflammasomes in selected infectious, autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and cover clinically approved therapies that interfere with inflammasome signaling. These findings highlight the importance of fine-balancing the Ying and Yang activities of inflammasomes for sustained homeostasis and suggest that further understanding of inflammasome mechanisms may offer new cures for human diseases.
近年来，炎症小体已成为免疫和炎症反应的关键调节因子。它们诱导程序性细胞死亡，并直接释放危险信号和炎症细胞因子白细胞介素 (IL)-1β 和 IL-18。炎症小体的协同作用对于对有害环境因子和感染作出适当反应至关重要。然而，炎症小体信号的失调与多种人类疾病越来越相关，包括类风湿关节炎、炎症性肠病和罕见的遗传性周期性发热综合征。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了炎症小体在选定的感染性、自身炎症性和自身免疫性疾病中的保护和有害作用的最新见解，并介绍了干扰炎症小体信号的临床批准疗法。这些发现强调了精细平衡炎症小体 Ying 和 Yang 活性以维持体内平衡的重要性，并表明进一步了解炎症小体机制可能为人类疾病提供新的治疗方法。
