Involvement of inflammasomes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with a long preclinical and prodromal stage near 20 years. The neuropathological hallmarks of AD include amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and neuroinflammation, those lead to neuronal and synaptic loss. Important fact, oxidative stress participates in the AD development by promoting amyloid-beta deposition, tau hyperphosphorylation. However, the inflammatory response and pyroptotic death are mediated by the aberrant expression of NLRP inflammasome activated caspase-1, which leads to cleavage pro-inflammatory cytokines such as pro-interleukin-1 beta and pro-IL-18. IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 which amplify the neuroinflammation loop, are produce by activated microglia and astrocytes, that can serve as early diagnostic markers or therapeutic targets in AD. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the role of inflammasome in the pathogenesis of AD, highlighting key issues that need to be addressed to improve the development of new therapies.