TBK1 and cancer: By analyzing The Cancer Genome Atlas of 18 malignancies, several scientists found that the expression of four key molecules in the cGAS-STING pathway, MB21D1 which encodes cGAS, TMEM173 which encodes STING, as well as TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) and interferon-regulating factor 3 (IRF3), are significantly upregulated in almost all detected cancer types compared to normal control tissues, suggesting that cGAS-STING and the signaling molecules may be activated in all cancer processes (An et al., 2019).