AIM2 and neoplasm: We found that 25 out of the 33 tested inflammasome-related genes were detectable by quantitative RT-PCR, and 8 of them (CIITA, NLRC4, NLRP3, NLRP7, AIM2, RIG-I, ASC and IL-1β) were overexpressed (fold change, >2) in NPC tumour samples, compared to adjacent normal samples.