By using microglia-derived cell lines, researchers observed that HIV promotes the synthesis of pro-IL-1β after 4 h post-infection and the release of this cytokine after 24 h; in agreement, brains of patients with AIDS showed high levels of IL-1β, IL-18 and caspase-1 (Walsh et al., 2014b). The gene discussed is CASP1; the disease is infection.