Nennig S E, Schank J R
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Georgia, 501 D.W. Brooks Drive, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Alcohol Alcohol. 2017 Mar 9;52(2):172-179. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agw098.
Nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NFkB) is a ubiquitous transcription factor well known for its role in the innate immune response. As such, NFkB is a transcriptional activator of inflammatory mediators such as cytokines. It has recently been demonstrated that alcohol and other drugs of abuse can induce NFkB activity and cytokine expression in the brain. A number of reviews have been published highlighting this effect of alcohol, and have linked increased NFkB function to neuroimmune-stimulated toxicity. However, in this review we focus on the potentially non-immune functions of NFkB as possible links between NFkB and addiction.
An extensive review of the literature via Pubmed searches was used to assess the current state of the field.
NFkB can induce the expression of a diverse set of gene targets besides inflammatory mediators, some of which are involved in addictive processes, such as opioid receptors and neuropeptides. NFkB mediates complex behaviors including learning and memory, stress responses, anhedonia and drug reward, processes that may lie outside the role of NFkB in the classic neuroimmune response.
Future studies should focus on these non-immune functions of NFkB signaling and their association with addiction-related processes.
活化B细胞核因子κ轻链增强子（NFkB）是一种普遍存在的转录因子，因其在固有免疫反应中的作用而广为人知。因此，NFkB是细胞因子等炎症介质的转录激活因子。最近有研究表明，酒精和其他滥用药物可诱导大脑中的NFkB活性和细胞因子表达。已有多篇综述发表，强调了酒精的这种作用，并将NFkB功能增强与神经免疫刺激毒性联系起来。然而，在本综述中，我们关注NFkB潜在的非免疫功能，将其作为NFkB与成瘾之间可能的联系。
通过在PubMed上广泛检索文献来评估该领域的现状。
除炎症介质外，NFkB还可诱导多种基因靶点的表达，其中一些与成瘾过程有关，如阿片受体和神经肽。NFkB介导复杂行为，包括学习和记忆、应激反应、快感缺失和药物奖赏，这些过程可能超出了NFkB在经典神经免疫反应中的作用。
未来的研究应关注NFkB信号通路的这些非免疫功能及其与成瘾相关过程的关联。
