IL1B and clostridium difficile infection: In fact, several reports have suggested that SLPs can also induce the production of proinflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-12, IL-23, and IL-1β (Péchiné et al., 2005; Ausiello et al., 2006; Bianco et al., 2011), indicating that SLPs might have the ability to modulate the immune response during CDI (Kelly and Kyne, 2011).