NLRP3 and acute kidney injury: Proir studies have demonstrated that supression of the NLRP3/Caspase-1 pathway can not only significantly inhibit the formation of fibrosis after acute kidney injury, but also induce hepatocyte pyroptosis to curb hepatocyte fibrosis [20, 21], indicating that the NLRP3/caspase-1 axis-mediated pyroptosis is closely bound up with the process of cell fibrosis.