To investigate whether MAPK pathway is involved in HSV-2-mediated transcriptional activation of CXCL10 and CXCL11 or ICP4-mediated transcriptional activation of CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11, ME180 cells were pretreated with or without PD98059 (ERK inhibitor), SP600125 (JNK inhibitor) or SB203580 (p38 inhibitor), and then transfected with CXCR3 ligand reporter plasmid followed by infection with HSV-2 or co-transfected with CXCR3 ligand reporter plasmid and ICP4 expression plasmid. The gene discussed is MAPK8; the disease is infection.