Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-27-2021
Abstract
The NLRP3 inflammasome mediates the production of proinflammatory cytokines and initiates inflammatory cell death. Although NLRP3 is essential for innate immunity, aberrant NLRP3 inflammasome activation contributes to a wide variety of inflammatory diseases. Understanding the pathways that control NLRP3 activation will help develop strategies to treat these diseases. Here we identify WNK1 as a negative regulator of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Macrophages deficient in WNK1 protein or kinase activity have increased NLRP3 activation and pyroptosis compared with control macrophages. Mice with conditional knockout of WNK1 in macrophages have increased IL-1β production in response to NLRP3 stimulation compared with control mice. Mechanistically, WNK1 tempers NLRP3 activation by balancing intracellular Cl- and K+ concentrations during NLRP3 activation. Collectively, this work shows that the WNK1 pathway has a critical function in suppressing NLRP3 activation and suggests that pharmacological inhibition of this pathway to treat hypertension might have negative clinical implications.
Recommended Citation
Mayes-Hopfinger, Lindsey; Enache, Aura; Xie, Jian; Huang, Chou-Long; Köchl, Robert; Tybulewicz, Victor L.J.; Fernandes-Alnemri, Teresa; and Alnemri, Emad S., "Chloride sensing by WNK1 regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation and pyroptosis." (2021). Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers. Paper 190.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/bmpfp/190
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
34315884
Language
English
Comments
This article is the authors’ final published version in Nature Communications, Volume 12, Issue 1, July 2021, Article number 4546.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24784-4. Copyright © Mayes-Hopfinger et al.