In addition to the beneficial effects of corticosteroids, targeted immune suppression to improve mortality rates in subgroups of COVID-19 has been hypothesized [10], and multiple clinical trials with inhibition of IL-1 (e.g., anakinra) and IL-6 (e.g. tocilizumab) or Janus-kinase (JAK) pathways are currently including COVID-19 patients or revealing preliminary reports [1, 4–8, 14, 15]. The gene discussed is IL1B; the disease is COVID-19.