Post-hoc Games-Howell test revealed that grade III HCC showed lower mRNA expression levels than grades I-II which were statistically significant for NLRP3 (P = 0.043) and GSDMD (P = 0.035), but not for CASP1 (P = 0.159) (Fig. 3A). Here, NLRP3 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.