IL18 and Myocardial fibrosis: ,30 Similarly, NLRP3 inhibition has been shown to reduce inflammatory cell infiltration, lower IL-1 and IL-18 expression in fibroblasts, reduce myocardial fibrosis, and improve cardiac remodeling following myocardial infarction in mice,31,32 which suggested that the global inhibition of inflammasome activation could serve as a general approach to ameliorate cardiac damage following myocardial infarction.