In a study of fresh PBMCs isolated from COVID-19 patients, Junqueira et al. found that approximately 6% of peripheral blood monocytes showed evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and that monocytes from COVID-19 patients had increased levels of inflammasome activation, with pyroptosis biomarkers in plasma (GSDMD, LDH, IL-1RA and IL-18) increasing with COVID-19 disease severity17. This evidence concerns the gene IL18 and COVID-19.