Are the IKKs and IKK-related kinases TBK1 and IKK-ε similarly activated ?

The IKKs, IKKa and IKKb, and the IKK-related kinases TBK1 and IKKe, play essential roles in innate immunity through signal-induced activation of NF-κB and IRF3/7, respectively. Although the signaling events within these pathways have been extensively studied, the mechanisms of IKK and IKK-related complex assembly and activation remain poorly defined. Recent data provide insight into the requirement for scaffold proteins in complex assembly; NEMO coordinates some IKK complexes, whereas TANK, NAP1 or SINTBAD assemble TBK1 and IKKe complexes. The different scaffold proteins undergo similar post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation and non-degradative polyubiquitylation. Moreover, increasing evidence suggests that distinct scaffold proteins assemble IKK and potentially TBK1 and IKKε sub-complexes in a stimulus-specific manner, which might be a mechanism to achieve specificity.