Key component of inflammasomes that indirectly senses specific proteins from pathogenic bacteria and fungi and responds by assembling an inflammasome complex that promotes caspase-1 activation, cytokine production and macrophage pyroptosis (PubMed:15107016). The NLRC4 inflammasome is activated as part of the innate immune response to a range of intracellular bacteria (By similarity).
Canonical inflammasomes form activation platforms for caspase-1. Their assembly depends on some dedicated cytosolic PRRs from the nucleotide-binding domain leucin-rich repeat (NLR) family including NLR and pyrin domain containing receptor 1 (NLRP1), NLRP3, and NLR and caspase recruitment domain containing receptor 4 (NLRC4); the AIM2-like receptors (ALR) family including absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2); or the tripartite motif (TRIM) family including pyrin.
Here we show that Ipaf, a human CED-4 homologue and an activator of caspase-1, is induced by p53. Overexpression of p53 by transfection in U2OS and A549 cells increased Ipaf mRNA levels.