While STING was originally considered to be a key regulator of antiviral immune responses (21), the immune boosting adjuvant properties elicited by synthetic STING agonists are being extensively investigated in preclinical and clinical studies with a view to identify novel STING agonists of therapeutic relevance for the treatment of cancer (refs. 22–24; NCT03956680, NCT04144140). Here, STING1 is linked to cancer.