Our global and targeted immunological biomarker analyses revealed the inflammasome‐associated cytokine IL‐1β, found in acute and chronic otitis media and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Lappalainen et al, 2005; Botelho et al, 2011; Pauwels et al, 2011; Damera et al, 2016), as one of the highest secreted inflammatory mediators. Here, IL1B is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.