IL18 and acute respiratory distress syndrome: Among many known inflammatory cell complexes, the nod-like receptor (NLR) family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation, which is composed of NLRP3, adaptor apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC), caspase-1, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-18 (IL-18), is a well-characterized inflammatory factor in development of ALI (7–9).