NLRP3 and atherosclerosis: Endogenous noninfectious substances that mediate the nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation and interleukin (IL)-1β secretion causes inappropriate sterile inflammation and is implicated in the pathogenesis of several chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, gout, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.