Mini Review Role of NLRP3 inflammasomes in hepatic ischemia- reperfusion injury

Increasing evidence indicates that inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, it is still unclear how I/R stimuli induce inflammatory responses in the liver. NLRP3 is an intracellular pattern recognition receptor and a component of NLRP3 inflammasomes that can induce caspase-1 activation, and regulate the processing of a potent inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Several investigations have recently suggested that inflammatory responses are mediated through NLRP3 inflammasomes in hepatic I/R injury. On the other hand, we recently found that NLRP3 regulates neutrophil functions and contributes to hepatic I/R injury independently of inflammasomes. This review summarizes the basic information on NLRP3 inflammasomes and discusses inflammasome-dependent/independent roles of NLRP3 in the pathophysiology of hepatic I/R injury. Rec.12/21/2014, Acc.1/22/2015, pp61-68