IL1B and COVID-19: In detail, while ex vivo lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/nigericin treatment led to the secretion of interleukin (IL)-1β from both COVID-19 patient-derived macrophages and macrophages from SARS-CoV-2 naive individuals, which was more pronounced in the former, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein/nigericin treatment selectively induced secretion of IL-1β in patient-derived cells only7.