Monosodium urate has been reported to be an inflammatory compound. Mechanistic studies suggest that this compound intracellularly engages caspase-1-activating cryopyrin inflammasome, resulting in the production of active IL-1β and IL-18. Experiments have shown that monosodium urate crystals also induce triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM-1) expression in infiltrating leukocytes in a murine air-pouch model of crystal-induced acute inflammation. Monosodium urate is also an activator of cryopyrin.