NLRP3 and silicosis: Recent studies demonstrated the NALP3 inflammasome is a protein complex (composed of NLRP3, ASC and caspase‐1) that is essential for the inflammatory response (Cassel et al., 2008; Dostert et al., 2008; Hornung et al., 2008; Peeters et al., 2013) and the development of silicosis (Cassel et al., 2008) from silica exposure.