Considering that inflammatory processes are reported to initiate a cascade of reactions leading to IVD degeneration and causing back pain through the release of algogenic neuropeptides, we hypothesized that NF-κB (RelA/NF-κB1) activation and the regulation of CGRP, SP, and TRPV1 expression would correlate positively in IVD tissues collected from patients with DDD. The gene discussed is RELA; the disease is Dowling-Degos disease 1.