Gao et al. confirmed that Emodin protected against acute pancreatitis-associated lung injury by inhibiting NLPR3 inflammasome activation via the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway; and Shang et al. also illustrated Emodin's protective effects against sepsis-associated damage to the intestinal mucosal barrier through the VDR/Nrf2/HO-1 pathway [49, 50]. Here, VDR is linked to acute pancreatitis.