NALP - autoimmune linked protein

[Jonazz]

I was browsing Wikipedia today and stumbled upon this little protein: NALP. The article says it is linked to autoimmune diseases but not much else is known about it. This could be an interesting target for Folding@Home studies.

NALP is a type of NOD-like receptor.[1] NALP proteins are part of the innate immunity and detect conserved pathogen characteristics such as peptodoglycan. It is thought that NALP proteins sense inherent danger, and link this with microbial products, creating a response under the concept of the inflammasome including K+ efflux and caspase 1 activation.[2] NALP has been linked to autoimmune diseases, but is currently poorly understood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NALP