The data showed that the protein level of STAT6 was dramatically reduced in the early stage (6 h) of primary infection, but gradually recovered with longer infection, which is compromised with the expression of RTA decreased (Fig 1B), albeit the protein levels of STAT3 were also reduced to some extent These results further support the notion that the reduced expression of STAT6 in the KSHV lytic cycle is due to RTA expression. Here, STAT3 is linked to infection.