NLRP3 and inflammatory response: NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) is one of the key factors triggering retinal vascular inflammation complicated by diabetes mellitus, and NLRP3 initiates cellular focal prolapse by activating cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (Caspase-1) via apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), which promotes the release of the inflammatory factors interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and interleukin 18 (IL-18) and initiates an inflammatory cascade response3,4.