Fig. 4.

MDP activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines through inflammasome-mediated pathway. The prototype structures of NLRP1, NLRP3 and NLRC4 consist of the following major interaction domains: The ligand sensing leucine-rich repeats (LRR), NACHT or the oligomerization domain, pyrin domain (PYD), or caspase recruitment domain (CARD), and function to find domain (FIIND). MDP interaction with these NLRs leads to the formation of inflammasomes, which are able to convert pro-inflammatory cytokines into their biologically active form