NFKB1 and Sepsis: Senftleben and Karin reasoned as early as in 2002 that the IKK–NF-κB pathway might play an ‘exceptionally important role due to the rapidity of activation and its unique regulation’ in critical diseases (Senftleben and Karin, 2002). The current study was designed to elucidate the role of the selective inhibition of the IKK complex in vivo in two different mouse models of experimental sepsis.