UC Berkeley

Inflammasomes are cytosolic multiprotein complexes that initiate protective immunity in response to infection, and can also drive auto-inflammatory diseases, but the cell types and signalling pathways that cause these diseases remain poorly understood. Inflammasomes are broadly expressed in haematopoietic and non-haematopoietic cells and can trigger numerous downstream responses including production of IL-1β, IL-18, eicosanoids and pyroptotic cell death. Here we show a mouse model with endogenous NLRC4 inflammasome activation in Lysozyme2 ⁺ cells (monocytes, macrophages and neutrophils) in vivo exhibits a severe systemic inflammatory disease, reminiscent of human patients that carry mutant auto-active NLRC4 alleles. Interestingly, specific NLRC4 activation in Mrp8 ⁺ cells (primarily neutrophil lineage) is sufficient to cause severe inflammatory disease. Disease is ameliorated on an Asc ^-/- background, and can be suppressed by injections of anti-IL-1 receptor antibody. Our results provide insight into the mechanisms by which NLRC4 inflammasome activation mediates auto-inflammatory disease in vivo.