AKT1 and infection: Our results are significant in several major respects (Figure 8): (1) HGPg infection increases the expression of IL-1β and NLRP3 in HGFs compared with cells infected with NGPg; (2) HGPg-induced NLRP3 expression and mature IL-1β release is regulated by the SREBP-1c upregulation; (3) JAK2 activation and Akt/p70S6K phosphorylation are required for SREBP-1c-mediated NLRP3 and IL-1β expression; and (4) integrin β1 is a major upstream regulator for HGPg-induced signal transduction and inflammasome activation.