Wei et al. (2014) found that the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome components was down-regulated in HCC tissues and inversely correlated with pathological grades and clinical stages; the up-regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome expression mediated by estrogen through the E2/ER/MAPK pathway, could significantly inhibit the malignant behavior of HCC cells (Wei et al., 2015; Wei et al., 2019). The gene discussed is NLRP3; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.