NALP is a type of NOD-like receptor. 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

Inflammasome

The inflammasome is a multiprotein oligomer consisting of caspase 1, PYCARD, NALP and sometimes caspase 5 . It is expressed in myeloid cells and is a component of the innate immune system. The exact composition of an inflammasome depends on the activator which initiates inflammasome assembly i.e...

 including K+ efflux and caspase 1

Caspase 1

Caspase 1 is an enzyme that proteolytically cleaves other proteins, such as the precursor forms of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin 1-β and interleukin 18, into active mature peptides...

activation. NALP has been linked to autoimmune diseases, but is currently poorly understood.