IKK2

IKK2 is the name of a protein that plays a significant factor in the state of brain cells after a stroke. In a stroke, a communications network between cells called NF-kB (nuclear factor-kappa B) is activated by IKK2. If this signal activating NF-kB is blocked, then damaged cells within the brain stay alive, and according to a study performed by the University of Heidelberg and the University of Ulm, the cells even appear to make some recovery. The size of the infarct, or tissue killed or damaged by ischemia, is reduced in mice in which IKK2 has been blocked. Additionally, experimental mice that had an overactive form of IKK2 experienced the loss of many more neurons than controls did after a stroke-simulating event. Researchers found a molecule that could block the signalling of IKK2, and they learned that the protective effect of blocking IKK2 still took place up to four and a half hours after the insult. This fact could have important implications for treatment of human patients with stroke if blocking IKK2 is developed as a treatment, since many patients do not reach the hospital soon enough to be helped by treatments that are only effective for a short period.

In another study, researchers found that inhibiting IKK2 prevented kidney and wasting diseases in an animal model of wasting diseases often found in human AIDS sufferers.