POPing the fire into the pyrin?

Initiation of an inflammatory response requires the co-ordinated participation of proteins within a scaffold in the cytosol of responding cells. The scaffold proteins contain members of a newly discovered family of pyrin-domain adaptor proteins that regulate complex assembly for initiation of nuclear factor kappaB and interleukin-1beta signalling. A paper in this issue of the Biochemical Journal by Stehlik et al. identifies a new member of the pyrin family that may control signalling by sequestering pro-inflammatory components, shedding light on the origin of human inflammatory disorders.