MAVS and neoplasm: Chen et al. reported that IRF7 was also upregulated in CRC and suggested a shorter survival time in CRC patients.468 On the other hand, evidence showed that tumor-infiltrating pDCs with positive IRF7 expression were associated with prolonged survival of CRC patients,473 and 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine exhibited anti-tumor efficacy via activating MDA5/MAVS/IRF7 pathway in CRC-initiating cells,474 suggesting that IRF7 may have an anti-tumor effect in CRC.