A similar IRF7 negative regulatory mechanism was described by Liang and colleagues [46], in which they observed that ATF4, a stress response molecule induced by viral infection, is able to inhibit IRF7 activation by inhibiting the phosphorylation of Ser477/Ser479 by TBK1 and IKKε, thereby suppressing the gene expression of IFN-α and IFN-β. Here, TBK1 is linked to viral infectious disease.