Monteiro S, Grandt J, Uschner FE, et al. - Given that systemic inflammation predisposes acutely decompensated (AD) cirrhosis to the development of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), researchers conducted this prospective, single-centre study to test the assumption that different inflammasome activation is involved in acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) development in compensated and recompensated patients. Two hundred forty-nine individuals with cirrhosis, divided into compensated and recompensated (previous AD), were followed prospectively for fatal ACLF development. Two external cohorts (n = 327) (recompensation, AD and ACLF) have been involved. According to results, patients developing ACLF displayed higher baseline levels of interleukins. Previous AD is an important risk factor for the development of fatal ACLF and may be associated with inflammasome activation. The findings showing a correlation between ACLF development and IL-1α in compensated cirrhosis and IL-1β in recompensated cirrhosis were verified  by animal models.