Traumatic brain injuries often lead to complications with long-lasting consequences on memory, concentration and movement control. Detrimental secondary inflammatory reactions at the injured tissue sites are often responsible for this. Researchers from Ulm have now shown in a Nature Communications study that the transcription factor NF-κB plays a key role in post-traumatic reactions to TBI. When this gene regulator is activated in astrocytes, i.e., in supporting cells of the brain, an elevated neuroimmune response promotes aberrant inflammation.