OBJECTIVE To determine the molecular mechanism by which absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) induces breast cancer cell apoptosis. METHODS Establish Tet-Off(TM) model system to induce AIM2 expression in great quantities, MCF-7 tTA-AIM2 cells were the experimental group; MCF-7 tTA-Luc cells were the control group. The expression and subcellular localization of AIM2 in breast cancer cell lines were dete...

Tumor metastasis is responsible for the high mortality rates in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) has been implicated in inflammation and carcinogenesis, although its role in HCC metastasis remains unknown. In the present study, we show that AIM2 protein expression was noticeably reduced in HCC cell lines and clinical samples. A reduction in AIM2 was clos...

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the most common metastatic skin cancer. Inflammation is a typical feature in cSCC progression. Analysis of the expression of inflammasome components in cSCC cell lines and normal human epidermal keratinocytes revealed upregulation of the expression of AIM2 mRNA and protein in cSCC cells. Elevated levels of AIM2 mRNA were noted in cSCCs in vivo compare...

AIM2 recognizes foreign dsDNA and assembles into the inflammasome, a filamentous supramolecular signalling platform required to launch innate immune responses. We show here that the pyrin domain of AIM2 (AIM2(PYD)) drives both filament formation and dsDNA binding. In addition, the dsDNA-binding domain of AIM2 also oligomerizes and assists in filament formation. The ability to oligomerize is cri...

IFI16 and AIM2 are important DNA sensors in antiviral immunity. To characterize these two molecules in a woodchuck model, which is widely used to study hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, we cloned and analyzed the complete coding sequences (CDSs) of woodchuck IFI16 and AIM2, and found that AIM2 was highly conserved in mammals, whereas the degree of sequence identity between woodchuck IFI16 and ...

UNLABELLED Close links have been noted between chronic inflammation of the prostate and the development of human prostatic diseases such as benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms that contribute to prostatic inflammation remain largely unexplored. Recent studies have indicated that the IFN-inducible AIM2 protein is a cytosolic DNA sensor in macr...

Absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) plays an important role in innate immunity as a DNA sensor in the cytoplasm by triggering the assembly of an AIM2 inflammasome that results in caspase-1-mediated inflammatory responses and cell death. In recent years, studies have indicated that AIM2 can suppress cancer cell proliferation, and mutations in the gene encoding AIM2 are frequently identified in patients ...

Intracellular DNA- and RNA-sensing receptors, such as the IFN-inducible protein Absent in Melanoma 2 (AIM2), serve as host sensors against a wide range of infections. Immune sensing and inflammasome activation by AIM2 has been implicated in innate antiviral recognition in many experimental systems using cell-lines and animal models. However, little is known about the expression and function of ...

background: absent in melanoma 2 (aim2) is an intracellular microbial dsdna sensor which plays an important role in production of proinflammatory cytokines through apoptosis associated speck-like protein containing a caspase activation and recruitment domain (asc) and caspase-1. micro-rnas (mirnas) play important roles in regulation of immune related genes. however, there is little information ...

BACKGROUND Type-I interferons (IFNs) are used to treat certain inflammatory diseases. Moreover, activation of type-I IFN-signaling in immune cells inhibits the production of proinflammatory cytokines and activation of inflammasomes. However, the molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Upon sensing cytosolic double-stranded DNA, the AIM2 protein forms the AIM2-ASC inflammasome, resulting in...