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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Apr 7.
Published in final edited form as: Dev Cell. 2009 Jan;16(1):21–34. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2008.12.012

Figure 2. Inflammatory caspases mediate an innate immune response to microbial invasion.

Figure 2

Cellular recognition of foreign invaders leads to formation of inflammatory caspase-containing protein complexes, called the inflammasomes. The best characterized is the NALP1 inflammasome, which consists of a NLR family member, an adaptor protein called ASC, and caspase-1/5. Inflammasome assembly leads to activation of caspase-1 and maturation of IL-1β. A recent study has implicated caspase-1 in regulating non-conventional protein secretion, which may be intimately involved in the inflammatory response (Keller et al., 2008). However the exact mechanism for caspase-1 in mediating protein secretion remains to be determined.