In our recent study, we found that the axis AIM2/caspase-1/caspase-4/IL-1α was responsible for TGF-β release (Colarusso et al., 2019), involved in COPD exacerbation (Mak et al., 2009; Colarusso et al., 2019). The gene discussed is AIM2; the disease is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.