One study showed that, in patients with gout, hyperuricemia causes a shift in the IL-1β/IL-1Ra balance produced by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) after exposure to MSU crystals and TLR (3 and 4 ligand)-mediated stimuli, and this phenomenon is likely to reinforce the enhanced state of chronic inflammation [32]. This evidence concerns the gene IL1B and hyperuricemia.