Recent studies have shown that the percentage of activated Caspase-1 in CD4 + T cells from RA patients is significantly higher than in normal controls, and that inhibition of the DNA repair nuclease MRE11A can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction of CD4 + T cells, resulting in NLRP3 inflammasome assembly, Caspase-1 activation and Pyroptosis of RA CD4 + T cells [5]. The gene discussed is NLRP3; the disease is rheumatoid arthritis.