Quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis showed that PTK2B knockdown significantly attenuated the transcriptional levels of antiviral genes such as IFNB1, IFIT1 and CXCL10 induced by HSV1-GFP infection (Fig. 2a–d) or by transfection with human telomeric DNA (HT-DNA) (Supplementary Fig. S2a–c). The gene discussed is IFIT1; the disease is infection.