title: Basic science for the clinician 51: the inflammasome.
abstract: The innate immune system is packaged in a number of discrete, but intercommunicating, systems. The inflammasome is a multimolecular complex that detects intracellular foreign molecules of a variety of sorts and promptly promotes the secretion of IL-1β and IL-18. When all goes well, defense of the organism in the early period of infection is enhanced by this system; when certain elements of the inflammasomal systems go awry, inflammatory diseases of a variety of sorts result. A family of multimolecular detection systems are activated at times of infection and tissue damage; it is the dysfunction of this innate immune defense system that intrigues rheumatologists, as this is the cause of a series of newly described autoinflammatory diseases.
authors: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-001, USA. lensigal@gmail.com
authors: Leonard H
authors: LH
authors: Sigal
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000502:physiology*; D058847:Inflammasomes / Q000502:physiology*; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000502:physiology; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000502:physiology; D053472:Nod Signaling Adaptor Proteins / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D058847:Inflammasomes; D020382:Interleukin-18; D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D053472:Nod Signaling Adaptor Proteins