. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Mar 16.

Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2012 Mar 16;148(6):1284–1292. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.02.012

Table 1.

Proposed hypotheses for the adjuvanticity of alum.

Hypothesis	Mechanism
Depot theory	Slow rate of antigen release from alum
Inflammasome activation	Stimulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome
Prostaglandin production	Stimulation of PGE₂ by a Syk- and p38 MAP kinase-dependent pathway
Endogenous danger signals	Release of uric acid and DNA following cell death
Membrane lipids	Binding to membrane lipids triggers signaling pathways and antigen uptake
B cell priming	Induction of IL-4