Inflammasomes are cytosolic multiprotein complexes that orchestrate inflammation by controlling IL-1β and IL-18 maturation and inducing pyroptotic cell death through caspase-1 and Gasdermin D activation. Their activation is tightly regulated to prevent excessive inflammatory responses and can be experimentally modulated using inflammasome inhibitors.
Canonical inflammasomes signal through caspase-1, whereas non-canonical inflammasomes involve caspase-4/5 in humans (or caspase-11 in mice) and are primarily activated by cytosolic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) delivered via bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs).
Among canonical inflammasomes, the NLR-derived sensors—NLRP1, NLRP3, and NLRC4—collectively detect cell-intrinsic stress signals, ion flux disturbances, and bacterial ligands. AIM2, by contrast, senses cytosolic double-stranded DNA to form a canonical inflammasome.
InvivoGen offers a range of inducers and inhibitors to probe both canonical and non-canonical pathways, providing reliable tools to study cytokine release, pyroptosis, and innate immune signaling.