Meanwhile, since these proteins have also protein–protein interactions, if the intracellular receptors include neurodegenerative disease proteins such as PQBP1, the cGAS–STING pathway in microglia might act similarly to extrinsic viruses74 and to extrinsic neurodegenerative disease proteins, as hypothesized previously37. This evidence concerns the gene PQBP1 and neurodegenerative disease.