NLRP3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: These results correspond with the data of Wei et al. who observed that the NLRP3 inflammasome components (NLRP3, ASC, and CASP1) were significantly decreased at both mRNA and protein levels in the HCC tissues in comparison with the adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues suggesting that lack of this multi-protein complex was involved in HCC development [14].