NLRP10 engages oxidized DNA through a Schiff-base mechanism and dissociates from NLRP3 upon inflammasome activation
Mitochondrial DNA release into the cytosol is a critical event in innate immune activation, often acting as a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) that triggers inflammasome assembly. Here, we demonstrate that NLRP3 is involved in the release of D-loop mtDNA into the cytosol. We further show that NLRP3 interacts with NLRP10. NLRP10-mediated oxidized DNA cleavage involves a Schiff base intermediate and is inhibited by small molecules known to inhibit glycosylases. These findings support a model where NLRP10 interaction with oxidized DNA may contribute to long-term senescence secretory phenotype and modulate inflammasome activation. Our study highlights a novel mechanism by which NLRP10 can respond to mitochondrial stress signals to influence innate immunity and suggests therapeutic potential for targeting these interactions in inflammatory diseases.
Authors
- Julia Elise Cabral (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6072-6362)
- Anna M. Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8487-823X)
- Reginald McNulty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2101-1377)
- Minh Anh Pham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7020-6901)
- Angela Lackner
- Wenjin Jiang
- Haitian Zhou
- Courtney Demos
- Sophia Lin
Institutions
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (UA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Biology
- Published
- 2026-01-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-09501-x
- Primary Topic
- Inflammasome and immune disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- University of California, San Diego
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego