IL18 and Hepatic fibrosis: Considering the pathogenic importance of NLRP3 inflammasome-induced pyroptosis in liver fibrosis, we measured the levels of key markers for pyroptosis, including NLRP3, pro-caspase-1, cleaved Caspase-1, cleaved GSDMD-N (Fig. 2D), IL-1β, and IL-18 (Fig. 2E).