NFKB1 and thoracic aortic aneurysm: Mi et al. (2011) has demonstrated that OPN can up-regulate the expression of MMP via NF-κB signaling pathway in the thoracic aortic aneurysm and AAA. OPN activates NF-κB signaling via interactions with integrin αvβ3 (Philip and Kundu, 2003; Das et al., 2005; Qin et al., 2018).