Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Inflammasome

Inflammatory target of antiretroviral drugs

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 15, pages 2–3 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

During the late stages of the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the death of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells is thought to result from high levels of non-coding Alu RNAs, which activate the NLRP3 (NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3) inflammasome and caspase 1. Alu elements in the genome rely on reverse transcription for their replication, so the authors thought that NRTIs might block this pathological process. Oral administration of the NRTI stavudine (also known as d4T) or intraperitoneal administration of the NRTI zidovudine (also known as AZT) prevented Alu-induced RPE cell degeneration in wild-type mice. Furthermore, d4T blocked caspase 1 activation and downstream maturation of interleukin-18 (IL-18) in RPE cells, and the protective effect of d4T in Alu-treated mice was overcome by sub-retinal IL-18 injection.

NRTIs can block NLRP3 inflammasome activation independently of their inhibition of reverse transcription

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Fowler, B. J. et al. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors possess intrinsic anti-inflammatory activity. Science 346, 1000–1003 (2014)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Kirsty Minton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Minton, K. Inflammatory target of antiretroviral drugs. Nat Rev Immunol 15, 2–3 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri3791

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nri3791

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research