IITZ-01 activates NLRP3 inflammasome by inducing mitochondrial damage

NLRP3 inflammasome can be activated by a variety of pathogen activators (including components of bacteria, viruses and fungi) or “danger signals” (including abnormal metabolites and environmental components), so its activation mechanism is extremely complex. IITZ-01 is a lysosomotropic molecule that can disrupt lysosomal functions. We found that IITZ-01 can activate inflammasome at a low concentration. Then, we determined that IITZ-01 is a specific activator of NLRP3 inflammasome through inflammasome stimulation, ELISA, Western blot and other experiments. Mechanistically, NLRP3 inflammasome activation induced by IITZ-01 is independent of direct binding and ion flow but dependent on mitochondrial damage and mROS accumulation. This study suggests that a lysosomotropic compound can activate NLRP3 inflammasome by impairing mitochondrial functions.