Several members of the tumour-necrosis/nerve-growth factor (TNF/NGF) receptor family activate the transcription factor NF-kappaB through a common adaptor protein, Traf2 (refs 1-5), whereas the interleukin 1 type-I receptor activates NF-kappaB independently of Traf2 (ref. 4). We have now cloned a new protein kinase, NIK, which binds to Traf2 and stimulates NF-kappaB activity. This kinase shares sequence similarity with several MAPKK kinases. Expression in cells of kinase-deficient NIK mutants fails to stimulate NF-kappaB and blocks its induction by TNF, by either of the two TNF receptors or by the receptor CD95 (Fas/Apo-1), and by TRADD, RIP and MORT1/FADD, which are adaptor proteins that bind to these receptors. It also blocked NF-kappaB induction by interleukin-1. Our findings indicate that NIK participates in an NF-kappaB-inducing signalling cascade common to receptors of the TNF/NGF family and to the interleukin-1 type-I receptor.

NF-kappaB transcription factors have key roles in inflammation, immune response, oncogenesis and protection against apoptosis. In most cells, these factors are kept inactive in the cytoplasm through association with IkappaB inhibitors. After stimulation by various reagents, IkappaB is phosphorylated by the IkappaB kinase (IKK) complex and degraded by the proteasome, allowing NF-kappaB to translocate to the nucleus and activate its target genes. Here we report that CYLD, a tumour suppressor that is mutated in familial cylindromatosis, interacts with NEMO, the regulatory subunit of IKK. CYLD also interacts directly with tumour-necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-associated factor 2 (TRAF2), an adaptor molecule involved in signalling by members of the family of TNF/nerve growth factor receptors. CYLD has deubiquitinating activity that is directed towards non-K48-linked polyubiquitin chains, and negatively modulates TRAF-mediated activation of IKK, strengthening the notion that ubiquitination is involved in IKK activation by TRAFs and suggesting that CYLD functions in this process. Truncations of CYLD found in cylindromatosis result in reduced enzymatic activity, indicating a link between impaired deubiquitination of CYLD substrates and human pathophysiology.

Caspase-8 deficiency in certain cells prompts chronic inflammation. One mechanism suggested to account for this inflammation is enhanced signaling for necrotic cell death, mediated by the protein kinases RIPK1 and RIPK3 that caspase-8 can cleave. We describe an activity of caspase-8 in dendritic cells that controls the initiation of inflammation in another way. Caspase-8 deficiency in these cells facilitated lipopolysaccharide-induced assembly and function of the NLRP3 inflammasome. This effect depended on the functions of RIPK1 and RIPK3, as well as of MLKL and PGAM5, two signaling proteins recently shown to contribute to RIPK3-mediated induction of necrosis. However, although enhancement of inflammasome assembly in the caspase-8-deficient cells shares proximal signaling events with the induction of necrosis, it occurred independently of cell death. These findings provide new insight into potentially pathological inflammatory processes to which RIPK1- and RIPK3-mediated signaling contributes.