Inflammasome activation: how macrophages watch what they eat.
Underhill and colleagues (Shimada et al., 2010) provide evidence for an intriguing link between the activity of lysozyme in the phagosome and activation of the Nlrp3 inflammasome, a cytosolic regulator of inflammation and cytokine production. The authors show that resistance to lysozyme allows Staphylococcus aureus to evade Nlrp3 activation.
Vance
Russell E
RE
Division of Immunology & Pathogenesis, Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, 415 Life Sciences Addition, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. rvance@berkeley.edu
D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D009113:Muramidase / Q000378:metabolism*; D000071199:NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000201:enzymology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000276:immunology*
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D016207:Cytokines; D000071199:NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein; C492716:Nlrp3 protein, mouse; D009113:Muramidase