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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Med. 2015 Jun 29;21(7):677–687. doi: 10.1038/nm.3893

Figure 3. Mechanisms of NLRP3 inflammasome action in Alzheimer’s disease.

Figure 3

In Alzheimer’s disease, CD36 mediates the internalization of soluble amyloid-β and its intracellular conversion to fibrillary amyloid-β. This leads to disruption of the phagolysosome and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome due to cathepsin B release. However, this does not exclude the possibility that phagocytosis of extracellular fibrillary amyloid-β also activates the NLRP3 inflammasome. Cathepsin B inhibition prevents amyloid-β–induced NLRP3 activation.