IRF7 and infection: As indicated, we were able to significantly reduce IRF7 mRNA using IRF7-specific si-RNA, which lead to diminished levels of total IRF7 protein and a significant decrease in IFN-β synthesis levels at late times during Chlamydia infection (S3B Fig. and S3C Fig.) Collectively, these data implicate a role for IRF7 in the late infection Chlamydia-induced synthesis of IFN-β in OE cells, and corroborates our previous finding that IFN-β plays a role in inducing itself late during Chlamydia infection.