Fig. 1.

Schematic diagrams showing the components and the formation of the inflammasome, and of the conventional pathway of protein secretion. (A) Following the activation of a primed cell by an appropriate stimulus (see Section 3.1) a series of homotypic interactions take place between an adaptor molecule (ASC), a cytosolic PRR (e.g. a NLR) and pro-caspase-1 to form an inflammasome. This results in the activation of caspase-1 and the secretion of IL-1β. (B) Conventionally secreted proteins are translocated into the ER and traffic through the ER and Golgi before reaching their extracellular destination. The fungal metabolite brefeldin A inhibits the conventional pathway of protein secretion.