Shahzad et al. examined the underlying mechanisms of sterile inflammation in diabetic kidney disease, specifically the role of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in podocytes. Using mouse models with gain-of-function and loss-of-function mutations in podocyte Nlrp3, or caspase-1 loss-of-function mutations in podocytes, they identified that Nlrp3 activation in these cells is central for development of diabetic kidney disease but not solely dependent on canonical mechanisms and caspase-1. These findings position podocyte-mediated immune cell-like functions as potential therapeutic targets for diabetic kidney disease.
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