RESUMEN
Ischemic stroke (also called cerebral ischemia) is one of the leading causes of death and severe disability worldwide. NLR inflammasomes play a crucial role in sensing cell damage in response to a harmful stimuli and modulating the inflammatory response, promoting the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-18 and IL-1ß following ischemic injury. Therefore, a neuroprotective effect is achieved by inhibiting the expression, assembly, and secretion of inflammasomes, thus limiting the extent of brain detriment and neurological sequelae. This review aims to illustrate the molecular characteristics, expression levels, and assembly of NLRP3 (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor [NLR] family pyrin-domain-containing 3) inflammasome, the most studied in the literature, in order to discover promising therapeutic implications. In addition, we provide some information regarding the contribution of NLRP1, NLRP2, and NLRC4 inflammasomes to ischemic stroke pathogenesis, highlighting potential therapeutic strategies that require further study.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: We report an unusual case of infective colitis by Yersinia enterocolitica complicated by microliver abscesses mimicking multiple liver metastases in a 79 yr old female without any risk factors for bacteriaemia by this pathogen. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient was admitted to the Internal Medicine with Stroke Care ward of University Policlinico "P. Giaccone" in Palermo because of the appearance of diarrhoea. After the antimicrobial treatment for infective colitis, the clinicians observed a persistently increased white blood cells (WBC) count and multiple hepatic lesions; after having excluded any neoplastic disease and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), blood cultures positive for Y. enterocolitica allowed to establish the final diagnosis was infective micro liver abscesses consequent to infective colitis due to Y. enterocolitica, which were successfully treated with cefixime and doxycycline. CONCLUSIONS: This case report should make clinicians reflect on how complex the differential diagnosis between microliver abscesses and metastasis could be and the possibility of bacteriaemia by Y. enterocolitica even without iron overload conditions.