Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 May 25.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2023 May 25;186(11):2288–2312. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.04.025

Figure 4: Cellular orchestration of the NLRP3 inflammasome.

Figure 4:

Prior to activation, NLRP3 exists in an inactivate cage conformation and is reported to associate with many different organelles, including the mitochondria and the ER. Recent work revealed that NLRP3 associates with the TGN through electrostatic interactions with the membrane component lipid PI(4)P74,198, and a new study describes how these PI(4)P+ vesicles are endosomal in origin, displaying markers of early endosomes and the TGN205,206. Upon its activation through ion gradient disruption, organelle dysfunction, or metabolic shifts, NLRP3 mediates the dispersal of the TGN and traffics along microtubules in a manner dependent on HDAC6 and dynein. At the MTOC, NLRP3 associates with NEK7, and NLRP3 monomers assemble into a decameric inflammasome72.