NFKB1 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: In addition, studies have shown that PM2.5 contributes to inflammation in human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and mice with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by significantly down-regulating miR-149-5p and up-regulating the expression levels of genes and proteins related to NF-κB and MAPK.