NFKB1 and cervical cancer: Our recent observation that HPV16 E2 potentiated TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation and reduced the E2-mediated apoptotic effect in human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells [15], with a parallel activation of STAT3 prompted us to understand the effect of re-expression of E2 in HPV16 integrated cervical cancer cells.