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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Immunity. 2009 Apr 9;30(4):556–565. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2009.02.005

Figure 4. Mice lacking components of the Nlrp3 Inflammasome demonstrate significantly altered levels of proinflammatory cytokines following pulmonary challenge with influenza.

Figure 4

Wild type, ASC−/−, Nlrp3−/− and Nlrc4−/− mice were challenged with influenza A/PR/8/34. Serum and cell free BALF were assessed 3 dpi., unless otherwise noted. (A–B) Significantly reduced levels of IL-1β(A) and IL-18 (B) were observed in the serum from Nlrp3−/− and Asc−/− mice (*p<0.05). (C–F) Nlrp3−/− and ASC−/− mice also demonstrated significantly reduced levels of BALF IL-1β (C) and MIP2α (D). KC was slightly decreased in Nlrp3−/− mice (E), while TNFα was reduced in ASC−/− mice (F) (*p<0.05). BALF levels of IL-18 were below the level of detection (data not shown). (G–I) All infected animals demonstrated a significant increase in IL-6 (G), IFNγ(H) and IL-12p40 (I) with no differences observed between genotypes. Mock, n=5; Nlrp3−/−, n=6; Nlrc4−/−, n=6; ASC−/−, n=9; Wild Type, n=5. (J) BALF from moribund Nlrp3−/− mice demonstrate significantly increased local levels of IL-6 compared to moribund wild type animals, 7 dpi.(*p<0.05). Mock, n=3; Nlrp3−/−, n=6; wild type, n=3. All data are representative of at least 2 independent experiments.