STING1 and viral infectious disease: Moreover, Ren et al. [22] recently reported that the exon-1 UL37 (UL37x1) protein encoded by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), in addition to inhibiting apoptosis, also inhibited the cGAS-STING pathway, which is important in viral infections because its activation leads to the expression of genes encoding proteins such as interferons, which consequently inhibit host innate immunity.