NLRP3 and atherosclerosis: A study of nicotine exacerbating atherosclerosis showed that increased intracellular ROS caused macrophages pyroptosis, which is manifested by the assembly of NLRP3 inflammasome, the cleavage of caspase-1 and the increase of IL-1β, IL-18, and GSDMD production (Mao et al., 2021).