Taken together, it is reasonable to speculate that MAIT cells during chronic HIV-1 infection might be persistently activated and driven in pyroptosis in response to multiple strikes, such as HIV-1 virion, IL-12, and IL-18 stimulation, demonstrated by MAIT cells being decreased in peripheral blood but enriched in the gut mucosa with an outstanding pyroptotic phenotype. Here, IL18 is linked to HIV-1 infection.