IL18 and chronic kidney disease: In CKD, increased expression of NLRP3 inflammasome promotes renal epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) which is related to the phosphorylation of Smad-2 and Smad-3, and this effect is independent of caspase-1, ASC, IL-1β, or IL-18 (Anders and Lech, 2013).