title: The role of inflammasome in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic, progressive and irreversible neurodegenerative disease with clinical characteristics of memory loss, dementia and cognitive impairment. Although the pathophysiologic mechanism is not fully understood, inflammation has been shown to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of AD. Inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS) is characterized by the activation of glial cells and release of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that inflammasomes, which cleave precursors of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18 to generate their active forms, play an important role in the inflammatory response in the CNS and in AD pathogenesis. Therefore, modulating inflammasome complex assembly and activation could be a potential strategy for suppressing inflammation in the CNS. This review aims to provide insight into the role of inflammasomes in the CNS, with respect to the pathogenesis of AD, and may provide possible clues for devising novel therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States; Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States; Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States. Electronic address: krischan@egr.msu.edu.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000502:physiology; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D058847:Inflammasomes / Q000502:physiology*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D005227:Fatty Acids; D058847:Inflammasomes
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Astrocytes; Inflammasome; Inflammation; Interleukins; Micrioglia