Nanobodies dismantle post-pyroptotic ASC specks and counteract inflammation in vivo.

Inflammasomes sense intracellular clues of infection, damage, or metabolic imbalances. Activated inflammasome sensors polymerize the adaptor ASC into micron-sized "specks" to maximize caspase-1 activation and the maturation of IL-1 cytokines. Caspase-1 also drives pyroptosis, a lytic cell death characterized by leakage of intracellular content to the extracellular space.