Aim To investigate the relationship between nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3) inflammasome and coronary heart disease(CHD). Methods 60 CHD patients and 30 controls were recruited according to the inclusion criteria. The clinical data including sex, age, smoking history, body mass index(BMI), mean artery pressure(MAP), fasting plasma glucose(FPG), glycosylated hemoglobin(HbA1c) and blood lipids were collected for analysis. The transcription and expression of NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing CARD (ASC) and caspase-1 mRNA as well as protein in peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) in all the groups were evaluated by real-time qPCR and Western blot respectively, and the levels of plasma interleukin-1β(IL-1β) and interleukin-18(IL-18) in all the groups were detected by ELISA assay. All data were analyzed by SPSS20.0 software. Results The expression levels of the ASC mRNA, NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1 in PBMC and plasma IL-1β, IL-18 in CHD group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P＜0.05). The NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1 and their mRNA were evaluated with the Spearman correlation coefficient analysis in each group respectively, both NLRP3 mRNA and caspase-1 mRNA were positively correlated with IL-18 in CHD group, with the correlation coefficients of 0.327 (P=0.011) and 0.274(P=0.031)respectively; ASC were positively correlated with age, IL-18 and IL-1β in CHD group, with the correlation coefficients of 0.370(P=0.024), 0.403(P=0.027) and 0.467(P=0.009) respectively; caspase-1 were positively correlated with smoking and IL-18 in CHD group, with the correlation coefficients of 0.613(P=0.000)and 0.414 (P=0.023) respectively. Conclusion NLRP3-ASC-Caspase-1-IL-1β/IL-18 signal pathway centered on the NLRP3 inflammasome may play an important role in the occurrence and development of CHD.