NLRP3 licenses NLRP11 for inflammasome activation in human macrophages.

Intracellular sensing of stress and danger signals initiates inflammatory innate immune responses by triggering inflammasome assembly, caspase-1 activation and pyroptotic cell death as well as the release of interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-18 and danger signals. NLRP3 broadly senses infectious patterns and sterile danger signals, resulting in the tightly coordinated and regulated assembly of the NLRP3 inflammasome, but the precise mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we identified NLRP11 as an essential component of the NLRP3 inflammasome in human macrophages.