Further analysis of this observation on the gene level displayed the heightened expression of pre-/immature neutrophil-associated markers in severe COVID-19 patients’ granulocytes, such as FUT4 (CD15), metalloproteinase MMP8, alarmins (S100A8/9), NET formation-involved PADI4, or NLRC4, for which activating mutations have been reported to overtly trigger the inflammasome and thereby increase the risk to develop autoinflammatory syndrome [73, 74] (Fig. 3f). This evidence concerns the gene MMP8 and COVID-19.