We observed significant negative correlations between CXCL10 protein concentrations in both supernatant (r = − 0.56, p = 0.01, data not shown) and cell lysate (r = − 0.65, p = 0.002; Fig. 5B) at 96 h following infection and SARS-CoV-2 replication. Here, CXCL10 is linked to infection.