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Activation and assembly of the inflammasomes through conserved protein domain families

  • The Domains of Apoptosis and Inflammation
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Abstract

Inflammasomes are oligomeric protein complexes assembled through interactions among the death domain superfamily members, in particular the CARD and PYD domains. Recent progress has shed lights on how the ASC PYD can polymerize to form filaments using multiple domain:domain interfaces, and how the caspase4 CARD can recognize LPS to activate the non-classical inflammasome pathway. Comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms of inflammasome activation and assembly require more extensive structural and biophysical dissection of the inflammasome components and complexes, in particular additional CARD or PYD filaments. Because of the variations in death domain structures and complexes observed so far, future work will undoubtedly shed lights on the mechanisms of inflammasome assembly as well as more surprises on the versatile structure and function of the death domain superfamily.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Tengchuan Jin & Tsan Sam Xiao

  2. Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, 2103 Cornell Rd, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA

    Tsan Sam Xiao

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  1. Tengchuan Jin
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  2. Tsan Sam Xiao
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Correspondence to Tengchuan Jin or Tsan Sam Xiao.

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Jin, T., Xiao, T.S. Activation and assembly of the inflammasomes through conserved protein domain families. Apoptosis 20, 151–156 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-014-1053-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-014-1053-5

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