The DNA-sensing AIM2 inflammasome controls radiation-induced cell death and tissue injury
UMass Chan Affiliations
Program in Innate ImmunityDepartment of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2016-11-11Keywords
Immunology and Infectious Disease
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Acute exposure to ionizing radiation induces massive cell death and severe damage to tissues containing actively proliferating cells, including bone marrow and the gastrointestinal tract. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this pathology remain controversial. Here, we show that mice deficient in the double-stranded DNA sensor AIM2 are protected from both subtotal body irradiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome and total body irradiation-induced hematopoietic failure. AIM2 mediates the caspase-1-dependent death of intestinal epithelial cells and bone marrow cells in response to double-strand DNA breaks caused by ionizing radiation and chemotherapeutic agents. Mechanistically, we found that AIM2 senses radiation-induced DNA damage in the nucleus to mediate inflammasome activation and cell death. Our results suggest that AIM2 may be a new therapeutic target for ionizing radiation exposure.Source
Science. 2016 Nov 11;354(6313):765-768. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1126/science.aaf7532Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/29010PubMed ID
27846608Notes
Full author list omitted for brevity. For the full list of authors, see article.
Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1126/science.aaf7532