NFKB1 and Stroke: Finally, in the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model of stroke the outcome of the insult has been shown to depend on the NFκB dimer subunit composition in the affected tissue: c-Rel is in general anti-apoptotic and target genes of c-Rel include several antioxidant and anti-apoptotic genes, whereas RelA-containing NF-kB dimers facilitate apoptosis (Sarnico et al., 2009).