Determining the Requirement of Caspase-1 Catalytic Activity for Inflammasome-Induced Unconventional Secretion of IL-1 and Cell Death

Inflammasomes are cytoplasmic multiprotein complexes that control Caspase-1 dependent proteolytic activation of IL-1, and thus are important for protective and pathological inflammation. In addition, Caspase-1 induces a special from of programmed cell death, called pyroptosis. To dissect the relevance of Caspase-1 catalytic activity, I generated a mouse line carrying an inactive version of Caspase-1. This study compares the differences between pharmacological and genetic inhibition of Caspase-1.