Inflammasomes and Sterile Inflammation in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Inflammation defined as the process by which the body responds to an injury or infection, and it is triggered by the innate immune system. Although the innate immune system has been recognized as the first line of defense against foreign pathogens, inflammatory responses also occur in the absence of infection and these are referred to as “sterile inflammation”. Increasing evidence indicates that several types of sterile inflammation in diseases are mediated through newly discovered innate immune pathways known as NLRP3 inflammasomes. NLRP3 inflammasomes are intracellular multi-protein complexes that serve as molecular platforms to induce caspase-1 activation and interleukin-1β secretion, leading to inflammatory responses. Recent investigations by our and other groups demonstrated that NLRP3 inflammasomes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and lifestyle-related diseases, such as atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, chronic kidney disease, gout, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome. Therefore, NLRP3 inflammasomes are considered to be a novel target for the treatment of these disorders.