How are inflammasomes detected?

Inflammasomes are detected by immunoblotting with antibodies that are raised against the main inflammasome components. Priming of the cells prior to detection is an important step for detecting some of the inflammasome components. Inflammasome priming accomplishes two functions – it specifically affects NLRP3 at the transcriptional level and also serves to trigger posttranslational modifications of inflammasome components that allow for oligomerization.