Petrilli, V., et al. - IL-1Beta is a cytokine with major roles in inflammation and innate immune responses. IL-1beta is produced as an inactive proform that must be cleaved within the cell to generate biologically active IL-1beta. The enzyme caspase-1 catalyzes the reaction. Recent work showed that caspase-1 must be activated by a complex known as the inflammasome. The inflammasome comprises NALP, which is an intracellular receptor involved in innate immunity, and an ASC adapter that ensures caspase-1 recruitment to the receptor