TNFAIP3 and viral infectious disease: Given that circTNFAIP3 is the most significantly dysregulated among the seven validated circRNAs (Fig. 2A and E), and its homologous protein TNFAIP3, encoded by the linear transcript of TNFAIP3 gene, plays an important role in inflammation, immunity, and virus infection (38, –, 40), we therefore wondered if the circular transcript of TNFAIP3 would also be involved in virus infection and selected it for further exploration.