Two regulatory pathways have been described that control the activity of these proteins: the canonical NF-κB pathway, which is normally triggered in response to microbial and viral infections and exposure to pro-inflammatory cytokines; and the alternative pathway, which is triggered by certain members of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) cytokine family (Karin and Lin, 2002). The gene discussed is NFKB1; the disease is viral infectious disease.