While there was a significant amount of Pax3 and Pax7 protein expression at the beginning of culturing, Pax3 and Pax7 became gradually diminished upon Nkx3.2 and Sox9 viral infection, concurrently with the induction of cartilage genes, which should be consistent with a transdifferentiation process. Here, NKX3-2 is linked to viral infectious disease.