Studies have shown that the levels of caspase-1 and the inflammatory cytokine IL-18 are increased in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and the level of NLRP3 in the optic disc in the eyes of patients with PDR is higher than that in the eyes of patients with inactive neovascularization (Qi et al., 2014). The gene discussed is NLRP3; the disease is proliferative diabetic retinopathy.