This proposed model is likely to be also applicable to the effects of IRF6 on lytic EBV reactivation and cellular differentiation in EBV-infected NPC tumors, as we found that IRF6 knock-down inhibits the ability of TPA to induce lytic EBV reactivation in the NPC cell line, NPC43, in vitro. Here, IRF6 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.