Active IL-1β has known roles in initiating and propagating sterile inflammation, including macrophage recruitment (100), activation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) (101) and modulating chemokine expression (18), which in retinal degenerative diseases such as AMD are characteristic pathogenic features that ultimately result in progressive photoreceptor cell death. Here, IL1B is linked to age-related macular degeneration.