IKK-β also known as inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit beta is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IKBKB (inhibitor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells, kinase beta) gene.
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IKK-β is an enzyme that serves as a protein subunit of IκB kinase, which is a component of the cytokine-activated intracellular signaling pathway involved in triggering immune responses. Its activity causes activation of a transcription factor known as Nuclear Transcription factor kappa-B or NF-κB. Activated IKK-β phosphorylates a protein called the inhibitor of NF-κB, IκB (IκBα), which binds NF-κB to inhibit its function. Phosphorylated IκB is degraded via the ubiquitination pathway, freeing NF-κB, and allowing its entry into the nucleus of the cell where it activates various genes involved in inflammation and other immune responses.
IKK-β plays a significant role in brain cells following a stroke. citation needed, Oct 2011. If NF-κB inhibition by IKK-β is blocked, damaged cells within the brain stay alive, and according to a study performed by the University of Heidelberg and the University of Ulm, the cells even appear to make some recovery.[1] The size of the infarct, or tissue killed or damaged by ischemia, is reduced in mice in which IKK-β has been blocked.[2] Additionally, experimental mice with an overactive form of IKK-β experience loss of many more neurons than normal mice after a stroke-simulating event.[1] Researchers found a molecule that could block the signaling of IKK-β for up to four and a half hours.[3] In another study, researchers found that inhibiting IKK-β prevented kidney and wasting diseases in an animal model used to study wasting diseases of human AIDS sufferers.[4]
IKK-β (IKBKB) has been shown to interact with
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