In tissues expressing 11β-HSD2 (placenta, renal cortical collecting ducts, distal colon, several cancer cells) Nrf2 may be rather insensitive to glucocorticoids, which is in clear contrast to tissues expressing 11β-HSD1 (liver, adipose, hippocampal neurons, macrophages) that are able to generate active cortisol and are therefore exposed to higher concentrations of active glucocorticoids. Here, NFE2L2 is linked to cancer.