Notably, the level of exogenous ZBP1 in the HT29/TO‐ZBP1 cells, both after treatment with 50 ng/ml and 500 ng/ml Dox, was higher than the level of endogenous ZBP1 induced by IFNβ, which we speculate is the reason that ZBP1 signaling responses were stimulated in the absence of virus infection or conditions that upregulate endogenous Z‐form nucleic acids (Thapa et al, 2016; Jiao et al, 2020, 2022; Wang et al, 2020; de Reuver et al, 2022; Hubbard et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2022). This evidence concerns the gene ZBP1 and viral infectious disease.