We have recently reported that another polymorphism (BCL3 rs8100239) in the alternative pathway of NF-kB is associated with survival of NSCLC patients14, which together with the current findings perhaps suggest that SNPs in genes of this pathway infer the importance of this pathway in cancer and may have a role in lung cancer pathogenesis and/or in response to therapy. The gene discussed is NFKB1; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.