NFKB1 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: The molecular mechanisms that underlying the inflammation with glucocorticoid insensitivity in COPD are currently still unclear, but a possible explanation may involve the impaired ability of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) [10], which mediates the effect of glucocorticoid by translocating into the nucleus, binding to glucocorticoid responsive elements (GRE) in the DNA or with the transcription factors activating protein-1 (AP-1) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), thereby preventing inflammatory gene expression [11], [12].