Figure 4. Mechanism of cholesterol crystal (CHC)-induced IL-1β secretion.

THP-1 macrophages were incubated with CHCs in the absence or presence of caspase-1 inhibitor zYVAD-fmk (25 µM), cytochalasin D (2 µM), KCl (130 mM), or cathepsin B inhibitor CA-074Me (10 µM). After the incubation, cell culture supernatants were analyzed for IL-1β (average response to CHCs 662 pg/ml). The data are means ± s.e.m. from ≥5 experiments. ** = p<0.01 and *** = p<0.001, compared with CHC-treated cells.