IL18 and escherichia coli infection: The gut epithelium has been shown to rely on the NLRC4 inflammasome to respond to Citrobacter rodentium, a mouse model of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli infection.29, 50 Interestingly, epithelial NLRP3 is also involved in C. rodentium clearance as Nlrp3−/− mice show higher bacterial burden and higher epithelium invasion.51 This effect is likely to be mediated by both IL‐18 and IL‐1β as Il‐18−/− and Il‐1β−/− mice present a similar phenotype to the Nlrp3−/− mouse when challenged with C. rodentium.