AUTHOR=de Rivero Vaccari Juan Pablo 

TITLE=The Inflammasome in Reproductive Biology: A Promising Target for Novel Therapies

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.00008

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2020.00008

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=The inflammasome is a key regulator of innate immunity involved in the inflammatory response to infections as well as disease through the activation of caspase-1 and the processing of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1b and IL-18. Even though the inflammasome was first described in the context of infections, most research these days focuses on targeting the inflammasome as a therapeutic option in sterile inflammatory events. Recent evidence indicates a clear involvement of the inflammasome in topics related to reproduction as diverse as infertility and pre-eclampsia. Here I summarize the current findings on the inflammasome that have been described in the field of reproductive biology and highlight the potential that the inflammasome has to be considered as a therapeutic target as a novel option in this field.