RELA and infection: To further validate the regulatory role of p65 phosphorylation (p‐p65) toward potential target genes, we utilized the NF‐κB inhibitor [pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC)] to treat the A549 cells during S. pneumoniae infection and found that the level of p‐p65 was obviously decreased at any infection time with PDTC treatment than without treatment (Figure 4e).