NFKB1 and Hypertension: Hypertension is generally considered to be a risk factor for AA, and elevated mean blood pressure is considered to be an independent risk factor for aneurysm rupture, reflecting the ongoing hemodynamic burden on the aortic wall, which leads to wall weakness.23 In experimental animal models, hypertension accelerates the progression of experimental aneurysms by upregulating nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and erythroblast transformation specific (ETS).