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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 11.
Published in final edited form as: Inhal Toxicol. 2012 Dec;24(14):995–1008. doi: 10.3109/08958378.2012.745633

Figure 10.

Figure 10

Cell schematic of how nickel-contaminated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) induces the inflammasome leading to inflammatory cytokine release. Two signals are required for IL-1β and IL-18 release. The first is initiated by endocytosis of the contaminated MWCNT. We proposed that when the resulting phagolysosome acidifies, this mobilizes the Ni2+ on the MWCNT, which contributes to the rupture of the phagolysosomal membrane. This process then results in the release of cathepsin B into the cytoplasm. Once there, the cathepsin B initiates the assembly of the NLRP3 complex of proteins in combination with ASC and procaspase to form the active caspase ready to cleave the proforms of IL-1β and/or IL-18.