NF-kB signalling: cell death, inflammation and cancer - I

What is Programmed Cell Death (PCD)?

A mechanism in development and homeostasis that removes superfluous, infected, transformed or damaged cells via an intrinsic suicide program

What are the two forms of Programmed Cell Death shown?

Necrosis and apoptosis

What underlies a wide variety of pathological processes?

Chronic inflammation

What is the link mentioned?

Links between inflammation and cancer

What are NF-kB?

Transcription factors which block programmed cell death (PCD)

What is NF-kB associated with?

Inflammation and cell survival

What happens upon activation of the NFkB pathway?

Transcription of genes involved in cell survival and inflammation

Arrange the following cellular events in the proper order in which they occur in the activation of NFkB pathway

IKK complexes phosphorylate IκB proteins → IκB ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation → NF-κB complexes translocate into the nucleus → NF-κB complexes induce target gene expression

How does NF-κB induce gene expression?

Phosphorylation of the inhibitor Iκ-B dissociates the complex between it and NF-κB, and allows NF-κB to enter the nucleus and stimulate transcription

What prevents NFkB activation in the absence of stimuli?

Binding of IκBα to NFkB dimer

What is the effect of siRelA (p65) subunit on NFkB activity?

siRelA reduces NFkB transcriptional activity by specifically knocking down the RelA (p65) subunit

What is ubiquitin?

Protein

What is ubiquitination?

A post-translational modification process that attaches ubiquitin to a target protein

What type of modification is ubiquitination?

Post-translational modification

What does ubiquitination involve?

Attaching ubiquitin to a target protein