Department of TCM Gynecology, Hangzhou TCM Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
Mol Hum Reprod. 2023 Sep 30;29(10). doi: 10.1093/molehr/gaad035.
Inflammasomes are multi-protein complexes localized within immune and non-immune cells that induce caspase activation, proinflammatory cytokine secretion, and ultimately pyroptosis-a type of cell death. Inflammasomes are involved in a variety of human diseases, especially acute or chronic inflammatory diseases. In this review, we focused on the strong correlation between the NLRP3 inflammasome and various reproductive diseases, including ovarian aging or premature ovarian insufficiency, PCOS, endometriosis, recurrent spontaneous abortion, preterm labor, pre-eclampsia, and male subfertility, as well as the multifaceted role of NLRP3 in the pathogenesis and treatment of these diseases. In addition, we provide an overview of the structure and amplification of inflammasomes. This comprehensive review demonstrates the vital role of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in human reproductive diseases together with the underlying mechanisms, offers new insights for mechanistic studies of reproduction, and provides promising possibilities for the development of drugs targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome for the treatment of reproductive disorders in the future.
炎性小体是一种定位于免疫和非免疫细胞内的多蛋白复合物，可诱导半胱天冬酶激活、促炎细胞因子分泌，最终导致细胞焦亡——一种细胞死亡方式。炎性小体参与多种人类疾病，尤其是急性或慢性炎症性疾病。在这篇综述中，我们重点关注 NLRP3 炎性小体与各种生殖疾病之间的强相关性，包括卵巢衰老或卵巢早衰、多囊卵巢综合征、子宫内膜异位症、复发性自然流产、早产、子痫前期和男性不育症，以及 NLRP3 在这些疾病发病机制和治疗中的多方面作用。此外，我们还概述了炎性小体的结构和放大。这项全面的综述表明 NLRP3 炎性小体激活在人类生殖疾病中的重要作用及其潜在机制，为生殖机制研究提供了新的见解，并为未来针对 NLRP3 炎性小体开发治疗生殖障碍的药物提供了有希望的可能性。
