Ethanol inhibits the secretion of mature IL-1β and caspase-1, but not the expression of pro-IL-1β.

<p>For the measurement of mRNA expression, LPS-primed human primary macrophages were incubated in the presence of the indicated concentrations of ethanol and (<b>A</b>) <i>IL1B</i> and (<b>B</b>) <i>NLRP3</i> mRNA expression was determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. The data are expressed as fold changes compared to the control cells. The results are means ± s.e.m. from 5 individual experiments. For the Western blot studies LPS-primed human THP-1 cells were preincubated in 10‰ (171 mM) ethanol prior to the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome with (<b>C,G</b>) nigericin and (<b>D</b>) ATP. For activation with (<b>E,F</b>) SAA no LPS priming was used. In IL-1β Western blots of supernatants (SN) or cell lysates (C–E), the p31 band represents pro-IL-1β and the p17 band mature IL-1β. In caspase-1 blots (F,G), the p45 band represents pro-caspase and the p10 band activated caspase-1. Results shown are representative of 3–4 individual experiments.