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Updated: Mar 2, 2026
Activation and Measurement of NLRP3 Inflammasome Activity Using IL-1β in Human Monocyte-derived Dendritic Cells
Published on: May 22, 2014
Activation of NLRP3 Inflammasome in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Differences Between Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative
Lazaros-Dimitrios Lazaridis1, Aikaterini Pistiki2, Evangelos J Giamarellos-Bourboulis2
1Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2nd Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Research Institute and Diabetes Center, Medical School, Attikon University General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University, 1, Rimini Street, 124 62, Athens, Greece.
Background:
NLRP3 inflammasome is a multimolecular cytosol complex that, when activated, contributes to the cleavage of pro-interleukin (IL)-1β to IL-1β.
Aims:
To investigate NLRP3 inflammasome activation in inflammatory bowel disease.
Methods:
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and controls were stimulated with LPS in the absence or presence of MSU. After incubation, concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα were measured in cell supernatants and concentration of pro-IL-1β was measured in cell lysates. NLRP3 activation was defined as more than 30% increase in IL-1β production after MSU addition. In separate experiments, PBMCs were lysed for RNA isolation transcripts of IL-1β, TNFα, NLRP3, and CASP1 were measured by RT-PCR. DNA was isolated from CD patients for ATG16L1 gene genotyping.
Results:
NLRP3 inflammasome was activated in 60% of CD patients compared to 28.6% of controls (p = 0.042); no significant difference was detected between UC and controls. Among UC patients, NLRP3 activation was associated (p = 0.008) with long-standing disease (>1.5 years). IL-1β levels were significantly higher in CD patents in comparison with controls (p = 0.032). No difference was detected in the levels of IL-6, TNFα, pro-IL-1β and in the numbers IL-1β, TNFα, NLRP3, and CASP1 transcripts among groups. IL-1β production was similar between carriers of wild-type and of SNP alleles of the rs2241880.
Conclusions:
NLRP3 inflammasome is activated in CD patients and in UC patients with long-standing disease.
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