The NF-κB pathway

The nuclear factor (NF)-κB transcription factor regulates expression of numerous components of the immune system (Li and Verma, 2002). These include proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules and inducible enzymes such as cycloxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase, which regulate the innate immune response, as well as proteins that regulate the specific immune response, such as major histocompatibility complex and co-stimulatory molecules crucial to the induction phase of specific immunity, and cytokines like interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12 and interferon-γ that control lymphocyte proliferation and differentiation. Dysregulation of this transcription factor can thus lead to inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (Yamamoto and Gaynor, 2001). Since NF-κB also regulates the expression of a variety of proteins that inhibit apoptosis and promote cell survival/proliferation, it is also implicated in carcinogenesis (Karin et al., 2002)