Ectopically expressing MXRA8 on HeLa and HT29 cells resulted in significantly elevated infection rates of OVM, while the infection rate of OVM was largely decreased in ΔMXRA8 Hs578T and HepG2 cells and further restored with MXRA8 trans-complementation (Fig. 2a–c, Supplementary Fig. 2b–d). Here, MXRA8 is linked to infection.