Ubiquitin in NF-κB Signaling

A study was conducted to understand the three steps of the NF-κB pathway, IκB degradation, processing of NF-κB precursors, and activation of IKK and other kinases. The study also highlighted how deubiquitination enzymes negatively regulate the NF-κB pathway and how dysfunction of these enzymes lead to human diseases. It was observed that NF-κB pathway provided an understanding of roles of ubiquitin in cell signaling including signal-dependent degradation of an inhibitor that further lead to a rapid activation of a signaling cascade, limited proteolysis of a precursor protein by the proteasome, and activation of protein kinases. The ubiquitin system played a significant role in diverse signaling cascades leading to NF-κB activation. The study also concluded that pervasive role of ubiquitin in NF-κB pathways showed the regulatory potential of ubiquitination and deubiquitination.