NLRP3 and diabetic kidney disease: In DKD, NLRP3 upregulation can be caused by activated protein kinase C (PKC), increased polyol pathway flux, overproduced AGEs, increased hexosamine pathway flux and accumulated nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (NOX), which appear to be the most important contributors in the upstream of NLRP3 inflammasome activation (Figure 2).