NLRP3 and periodontitis: As we have observed in THP-1 derived macrophages, it is well established that NLRP3 and AIM2 are upregulated in saliva (Arunachalam et al. 2024), periapical lesions (Ran et al. 2017; Guan et al. 2020) and gingival tissues (Xue et al. 2015) of periodontitis patients, driving an increase in IL-1β secretion.