These conditions share the common feature that IL-1 is involved in their pathogenesis.117 Urate crystals promote IL-1β secretion and thus induce joint inflammation in gout.118 Type II diabetes mellitus is a chronic inflammatory disease in which β cells are continuously destroyed by IL-1119 and is improved by treatment with an IL-1 receptor antagonist.120 IL-1β produced by myeloma cells stimulatesim the secretion of IL-6 by adjacent stromal cells. The gene discussed is IL1B; the disease is gout.