NLRP3 and colitis: Zaki et al. (67) reported that after oral administration of DSS, mice deficient in NLRP3 led to a loss of epithelial integrity, resulting in systemic dispersion of commensal bacteria, massive leukocyte infiltration in the colon and more severe colitis, and indicated that the protective effect of NLRP3 inflammasome on colitis was that it could promote the secretion of IL-18, and an injection of exogenous recombinant IL-18 could partially alleviate the inflammatory symptoms of DSS induced colitis.