The recent molecular, biologic, and genetic understanding of the inflammasome has revolutionized the diagnosis of and therapy for the phenotypically heterogeneous group of rare oligogenic disorders, now recognized to have autoinflammatory origin. This article reviews the importance of inflammasome activation in the central and peripheral mechanisms underlying a common, multifactorial, lifestyle-related, and polygenetic disease (type 2 diabetes mellitus), and conceptualizes the notion that this health challenge should now be recognized to have an autoinflammatory cause. It is hoped that targeting these mechanisms will enable the introduction of novel therapies that attack the basic pathogenetic mechanisms of type 2 diabetes mellitus rather than the epiphenomena that are its consequences.
Keywords: Beta-cell; Cytokines; Insulin resistance; Interleukin-1; Islets; Low-grade inflammation; Macrophage; Pancreas.
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.