Innate and adaptive effects of inflammasomes on T cell responses.

Innate and adaptive effects of inflammasomes on T cell responses. Curr Opin Immunol. 2013 Mar 7; Authors: Dostert C, Ludigs K, Guarda G Abstract Inflammasomes are protein complexes that form in response to pathogen-derived or host-derived stress signals. Their activation leads to the production of inflammatory cytokines and promotes a pyrogenic cell death process. The massive release of inflammatory mediators that follows inflammasome activation is a key event in alarming innate immune cells. Growing evidence also highlights the role of inflammasome-dependent cytokines in shaping the adaptive immune response, as exemplified by the capacity of IL-1β to support Th17 responses, or by the finding that IL-18 evokes antigen-independent IFN-γ secretion by memory CD8(+) T cells. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms and on how to manipulate this powerful inflammatory system therefore represents an important step forward in the development of improved vaccine strategies. PMID: 23478069 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Opinion in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Immunol Source Type: research