As ROS plays an important role in inflammasome activation, and atherosclerosis has been linked with mitochondrial dysfunction, it is reasonable to hypothesize that damage induced by high-fat diet or aging contributes to enhanced ROS production, which lowers the threshold required to trigger NLRP3 inflammasome activation (Madamanchi and Runge, 2007; Ordovas-Montanes and Ordovas, 2012). The gene discussed is NLRP3; the disease is atherosclerosis.