IL18 and arthritic joint disease: Inflammation further exacerbates this degeneration, as inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin‐1 beta (IL‐1β), IL‐6, IL‐18 and tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α), promote ECM degradation, highlighting inflammation as a critical driver of arthritis pathogenesis [11, 12, 13].