AF tissues of N153S mice also upregulated over 100 genes related to an immune response, including il1b, il1rn, ifitm6, cdk1, ifitm3, and tnfaip2. This gene signature, however, did not tightly correlate to structural attributes of the AF nor correlate with a gene signature associated with disc degeneration in human AF tissues. This evidence concerns the gene IL1RN and intervertebral disk degenerative disorder.