NF-κB signaling and the downstream nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine-rich repeat, and pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome act as the core modulators that mediate the outbursts of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-18, and subsequent cell death during the over-activated inflammatory process of ALI (He et al., 2016). The gene discussed is NLRP3; the disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome.