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But uncovering the genes that go awry in FMF and related diseases pointed to specific causes for symptoms, such as surges in inflammation-promoting molecules like interleukin 1 and TNF-alpha.

But the good news for him was that there is a drug on the market — anakinra, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis — that blocks interleukin 1.

Mr. Stanavec had an extremely rare mutation in a gene, NLRP3, which helps direct cells to activate a protein, interleukin 1 beta, that is part of the immune response to infections.

Some research suggests that body fat ups the number of proteins in the brain that trigger a cascade of events that predispose someone to the disease, and other research in mice has suggested that fat cells release a substance called interleukin 1, which can cause severe inflammation and, in turn, gunk up the brain.

After recovery, these slenderized mice showed almost no interleukin 1 in their bloodstreams and, Algernon-like, soon were acing cognitive tests that had stumped them before surgery.