A Knock-In Mouse Model of Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndromes

Autoinflammatory diseases are a group of distinct disorders characterized by recurrent fever and inflammatory manifestations predominantly mediated by cytokines of the innate immune system, particularly IL-1β, without involvement of autoantibodies or autoreactive T lymphocytes. Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS), due to NLRP3 gene mutations, represent the prototype of these diseases. Owing to their genetic nature, most of these disorders have an early onset, ranging from the first hours to the first decade of life. Due to the rarity of CAPS patients and to the limitations of working with pediatric samples, the development of animal models of this disease is of great help for studying both pathophysiology and therapeutic strategies. In this chapter, we review the generation and characterization of a knock-in mouse bearing the NLRP3 gene with the N475K mutation, associated with CINCA, the most severe form of human CAPS.