TP53 and infection: HCMV infection often results in a concerted antiapoptotic response to prolong host cell lifespan for replication, and during lytic infection, the virus encodes an array of antiapoptotic proteins that target caspase-8 (UL36) (75), mitochondrial membrane stability (UL37 × 1) (76), ER stress (UL38) (77), ATP production (b2.7) (78), and p53 (IE2) (79).