The Dark Age(ing) of the Inflammasome Konrad Aden, Philip Rosenstiel  Immunity  Volume 46, Issue 2, Pages 173-175 (February 2017) DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.02.009 Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 A Vicious Circle of Inflammasome Activation Is Triggered by Nucleotide Metabolites and Can Be Intercepted by Dietary Caffeine Chronic overactivation of the inflammasome leads to subclinical IL-1β-associated inflammation, which is associated with arterial hypertension and kidney inflammation in the elderly. On a cellular level, low-grade inflammation leads to platelet activation and endothelial damage, which in turn provokes the accumulation of nucleotide secondary metabolites (adenin or N4A). Adenin and N4A are in turn able to stimulate inflammasome activity and thereby induce the vicious circle of inflammageing. Dietary caffeine exerts inhibitory effects on the inflammasome by a so-far unrecognized mechanism. Putative mechanisms include caffeine induced increase of intracellular cAMP, induction of autophagy, or blockade of the adenosin receptor. Immunity 2017 46, 173-175DOI: (10.1016/j.immuni.2017.02.009) Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions