IL18 and osteoarthritis: Inflammation, as reported, plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis, disrupting the homeostasis of the joint microenvironment, regulating bone metabolism through the NF-κB signaling pathway, and triggering downstream genes, including the conversion of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β and IL-18 into mature pro-inflammatory factors, further exacerbating the progression of osteoarthritis (Shi et al., 2022; Sang et al., 2022; Wei et al., 2022).