NLRP3 and colitis: In this respect, several lines of evidence have shown that, in the early acute phases of inflammation, NLRP3 inflammasome activation contributes to tissue repair and maintenance of epithelial barrier integrity, while in the later chronic phase of colitis, the overactivation of NLRP3 promotes the differentiation of T cells into effector Th1 and Th17 phenotypes, which contribute to sustain the inflammatory response.