After establishing the inhibitory effects of exogenously added IFNα on Caspase-1 activation and IL-1β release, we evaluated its effects on Meth mediated IL-1β mRNA and miR-146a overexpression. While Meth alone significantly increased miR-146a and IL-1β mRNA expression, when cells were treated with IFNα+Meth, miR-146a expression was unchanged and IL-1β mRNA levels were significantly decreased (Figure 4F). Further, we analyzed the expression of TRAF6 protein. Consistent with our earlier results, we observed decreased expression of TRAF6 in Meth treated cells, but IFNα abrogated this decrease (Figure 4G).