International journal of molecular medicine
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The NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome plays pivotal roles in inflammation and autoimmunity. The NLRP3 inflammasome is activated in response to various signals, including pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). However, its role in inflammation remains unclear. ⋯ In addition, the silencing of NLRP3 with small interfering RNA (siRNA) suppressed the generation of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β (P<0.01), IL-18 (P<0.01), but not IL-33 (P>0.05), along with the decreased mRNA and protein expression of NLRP3 and caspase-1 (P<0.05). However, extracellular potassium at a high concentration and NLRP3 siRNA did not affect the level of apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (CARD) (ASC; P>0.05). Our results suggest that the NLRP3/ASC/caspase-1 axis participates in the regulation of pro-imflammatory cytokine secretion in RAW264.7 cells, particularly the generation of IL-1β and IL-18.