Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Reproductive Medicine and Immunology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clinical Sciences Department, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Vernon Hills, IL, United States.
Front Immunol. 2021 Jan 28;11:555826. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.555826. eCollection 2020.
Inflammasomes, intracellular, multimeric protein complexes, are assembled when damage signals stimulate nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain receptors (NLRs). Several inflammasomes have been reported, including the NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3), NLRP1, NLRP7, ice protease-activating factor (IPAF), absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) and NLR family CARD domain-containing protein 4 (NLRC4). Among these inflammasomes, the NLRP3 inflammasome is the most well-studied in terms of structure and function. Unlike other inflammasomes that can only be activated by a finite number of pathogenic microorganisms, the NLRP3 inflammasome can be activated by the imbalance of the internal environment and a large number of metabolites. The biochemical function of NLRP3 inflammasome is to activate cysteine-requiring aspartate proteinase-1 (caspase-1), which converts pro-IL-1β and pro-IL-18 into their active forms, namely, IL-1β and IL-18, which are then released into the extracellular space. The well-established, classic role of NLRP3 inflammasome has been implicated in many disorders. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of NLRP3 inflammasome and its critical role in gynecological disorders and obstetrical complications.
炎症小体是一种细胞内的多聚体蛋白复合物，当损伤信号刺激核苷酸结合寡聚化结构域受体（NLRs）时，就会被组装起来。已经报道了几种炎症小体，包括 NOD、LRR 和富含吡咯啉域的蛋白 3（NLRP3）、NLRP1、NLRP7、ICE 蛋白酶激活因子（IPAF）、黑色素瘤缺失 2（AIM2）和 NLR 家族 CARD 结构域蛋白 4（NLRC4）。在这些炎症小体中，NLRP3 炎症小体在结构和功能方面的研究最为深入。与其他只能被有限数量的致病性微生物激活的炎症小体不同，NLRP3 炎症小体可以被内部环境失衡和大量代谢物激活。NLRP3 炎症小体的生化功能是激活半胱氨酸需要的天冬氨酸蛋白酶-1（caspase-1），将前白细胞介素-1β（pro-IL-1β）和前白细胞介素-18（pro-IL-18）转化为其活性形式，即白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）和白细胞介素-18（IL-18），然后将其释放到细胞外空间。NLRP3 炎症小体的经典作用已经被广泛证实，它与许多疾病有关。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 NLRP3 炎症小体的最新认识及其在妇科疾病和产科并发症中的关键作用。
