CNF1-triggered immunity requires inflammatory caspases.

<p>(A and B) IL-1β production and maturation/secretion after treatment with CNF1, LPS or CNF1 (1 μg/ml) + LPS (100 ng/ml) for 10 h. Actin and BSA were used as loading controls. (B) Graph showing the quantification of IL-1β secretion normalized to the control (n = 3). (C and D) Female C57BL/6 WT (C) or congenic C1^-/-C11^-/- mice (D) were intravenously infected with 10⁷ CFUs of <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>^CNF1+ or with the isogenic CNF1-deleted mutant (<i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>^CNF1-) prior to the collection of peripheral blood at 3, 6, 24 and 48 h for bacteremia measurements. The data are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 7–8). (E and F) Analysis of the circulating levels of IL-1β (E) and KC (F) in the mouse sera by ELISA. Serum samples from mice infected with 10⁷<i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>^CNF1+ or with the isogenic mutant <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>^CNF1- were collected at 3 h after intravenous infection and analyzed by ELISA (n = 3). P-values<0.05 (*); and P-values<0.01 (**) were considered statistically significant.