NLRP3 and prostatitis: Our previous studies elucidated the significant roles of NLRP3 in chronic prostatitis development 13, 14, in this study, we identified how the P2X7R regulated NLRP3 activation to promote chronic prostatitis development, and how potassium efflux played an important role in P2X7R-mediated NLRP3-NEK7 interaction and NLRP3 activation.