NFKB1 and alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency: Next, to confirm the role of the NF-κB pathway in response to cigarette smoke-induced EVs in AATD macrophages, we inhibited the NF-κB pathway in AATD macrophages using 3 μM TPCA-1 (Abcam, Cambridge, UK), a direct inhibitor of the NF-κB pathway (Additional file 3: Fig. S3).