Fig. 7

NF-κB signaling pathway regulated autophagy and EMT. NF-κB activation increased transcriptional activation of EMT regulator genes expression via binding directly to the sites of EMT transcription factors, including SNAIL1, SLUG, TWIST1, and SIP1 promoter. In addition, TNF-α–mediated stability of SNAIL protein is strengthened by GSK3β activity, which is dependent on NF-κB activation. Furthermore, NF-κB binding to MMPs promotes SNAIL transcription. NF-κB can down-regulate autophagy by inhibiting Beclin-1, an initiator of autophagy. However, autophagy activation suppresses ROS–NF-κB signaling to down-regulate MMPs expression, contributing to EMT inhibition