IL1B and intervertebral disk degenerative disorder: Besides, elevated inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 and TNF-α in the IVD are revealed to be closely associated with disc degeneration, where IL-1 is reported to directly mediate various pro-inflammatory mediators and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), resulting in a disturbed ECM metabolism of the intervertebral disc (Gao et al., 2024).