NLRP3 and inflammatory response: Recent studies have shown that the NLRP3 inflammasome complex, besides acting as a key player in the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis, shapes innate immune responses during bowel inflammation, thus contributing to sustain the ongoing inflammatory processes, the disruption of enteric epithelial barrier through a deregulation of tight junction proteins (i.e., claudin-1, claudin-2, and junctional adhesion molecule-A), as well as epithelial cell apoptosis [1,96].