IL18 and pneumococcal infection: The (functional) relationship between ASC, NLRP3, and caspase-1 activation during pneumococcal infection was recently described in murine pneumonia model [24], in which S. pneumoniae infection led to caspase-1 activation and IL-1β/IL-18 maturation through the activation of both the NLRP3 and the AIM2 (absent in melanoma) inflammasomes, in a process which was completely absent in the ASC deficient mice.