In keratoconus, keratocyte apoptosis has been suggested to contribute to the corneal thinning process [48-50], which suggests that the enhanced IL1B expression caused by the promoter polymorphism, rs1143627, can induce the overexpression of IL1-B protein, resulting in the increased corneal apoptotic activity observed in patients with keratoconus. The gene discussed is IL1B; the disease is keratoconus.