Upregulated NLRP3 inflammasome activation in patients with type 2 diabetes

Despite the recent attention focused on the roles of the nucleotide binding and oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, little is known about the ex vivo profile of inflammasome activation in type 2 diabetic patients. In this study, we investigated patterns of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) from drug-naïve patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetic subjects had significantly increased mRNA and pro-tein expression of NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like pro-tein containing a CARD (ASC), and proinflammatory cytokines in MDMs cultured with autologous sera compared with healthy controls. Upregulated interleukin (IL)-1b maturation, IL-18 secre-tion, and caspase-1 cleavage were observed in MDMs from type 2 diabetic patients after stimulation with various danger molecule