Nagar, AbhinitBharadwaj, RaviShaikh, Mohammad Omar FarukRoy, Abhishek2024-06-102024-06-102023-07-26Nagar A, Bharadwaj R, Shaikh MOF, Roy A. What are NLRP3-ASC specks? an experimental progress of 22 years of inflammasome research. Front Immunol. 2023 Jul 26;14:1188864. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1188864. PMID: 37564644; PMCID: PMC10411722.1664-322410.3389/fimmu.2023.118886437564644https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53455Speck assembly is the hallmark of NLRP3 inflammasome activation. The 1µm structure comprising of NLRP3 and ASC is the first observable phenotype of NLRP3 activation. While the common consensus is that the specks are the site of inflammasome activity, no direct experimental evidence exists to support this notion. In these 22 years, since the inflammasome discovery, several research studies have been published which directly or indirectly support or refute the idea of speck being the inflammasome. This review compiles the data from two decades of research to answer a long-standing question: "What are NLRP3-ASC specks?"en© 2023 Nagar, Bharadwaj, Shaikh and Roy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ASC specksCasp-1NLRP3SMOCsinflammasomeJournal ArticleFrontiers in immunology