To further assess that the observed increased interactions between IFI16 and BRCA1 are specifically due to viral infection in HMVEC-d cells, we studied the interactions between IFI16 and BRCA1 as well as interactions of H2AX and CHK2 with IFI16 and BRCA1 during bleomycin (10 mU/ml for 4 h) induced DDR and during KSHV infection. This evidence concerns the gene H2AX and viral infectious disease.