Fig. 4.

USP3 promotes ASC speck formation and oligomerization. A Immunostaining of endogenous ASC specks in PMs. PMs were primed with LPS for 8 h and then stimulated with ATP for 30 min. Scale bar, 50 μm. B The ASC specks in (A) were counted and presented as the percentage of total cell numbers. C PMs silenced for Usp3 were primed with LPS for 8 h and then stimulated with ATP for 30 min. The cell lysates were cross-linked with DSS, and ASC oligomerization was detected by immunoblot analysis with anti-ASC antibody. D WT or USP3-KO THP-1 cells were primed with LPS for 8 h and then stimulated with ATP for 30 min. The cell lysates were treated as in (C). Data in (B) are from three independent experiments (n = 3) and are shown as the mean + S.D., and other data are representative of three independent experiments with similar results. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; two-tailed Student’s t test. β-Actin was used as a loading control