Inflammasome and cardiovascular diseases

NOD-like receptors (NLRs) constitute a recently identified family of intracellular pattern recognition receptors which contains more than 20 members in mammals. Some of the NLRs, the NALP subfamily, constituted from 14 members, many of them without actual identified role, form multiproteic complex known as inflammasome, that initiate inflammation by processing inactive pro-caspase-1 to its active form, allowing the cleavage and subsequent activation of pro-IL-1 beta and pro-IL-18. We review the identified roles of NLRs in pathologies and argue for the role of inflammasome in the development of cardiovascular diseases. The atherogenic cytokines IL-1 beta and IL-18 are matured in NLRPs inflammasomes. Immunocytochemistry shows that Nlrp3 inflammasome is expressed in plaques, upregulated and activated in the CD11b(+)Gr1(high) atherosclerosis-prone monocyte subset and modulated by oxLDL in murine macrophages. These results provide an unexpected role for Nlrp3 inflammasome in atherosclerosis. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.