In various hematological malignancies, treatment with 5-azacitidine has led to the upregulation of three primary classes of REs (LINE, LTR, and SINE) and activation of the IFN pathway in responders, providing in vivo support for the role of viral mimicry as a crucial anti-tumor mechanism mediated by DNA demethylating drugs (Ohtani et al., 2020). The gene discussed is IFNA1; the disease is neoplasm.