We thus investigated the mechanisms through which AIM2, RIG-I and NLRP3 are activated by testing whether IL-1β secretion from NPC cell lines could be induced by stimulation with PAMPs (EBV genomic DNA, gDNA; and EBV-encoded small RNAs, EBER1 and EBER2) or DAMPs present in the tumour microenvironment (ATP and ROS), or could be affected by the caspase-1 inhibitor, Z-VAD-FMK or depletion of inflammasome components by RNA interference. The gene discussed is NLRP3; the disease is nasopharyngeal carcinoma.