NFKB1 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Kim et al. also conducted a pilot study of 39 subjects (21 HNSCC patients, 13 patients with dental caries, and 5 healthy controls) and demonstrated that curcumin treatment significantly reduced the activity of IκB kinase β (IKKβ), which is known to promote cancer progression through activation of NF-κB pathway [86].