Upregulation of IL-1β expression is observed in multiple disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis and hypertension [17–19] whereas elevated levels of circulating IL-18 have been reported for patients with heart disease [16] and a role for IL-18 has been suggested in various autoimmune diseases [16, 20, 21]. This evidence concerns the gene IL18 and atherosclerosis.