STING-NF-κB signaling builds an influenza spillover barrier.

Ye R, Wang S, Hu Y, Pan Y, Zheng W et al.
Science 2026
Open on PubMed

Influenza pandemics are often traced back to the spillover of avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) to humans. However, barriers against IAV transmission remain elusive. We demonstrated human stimulator of interferon genes (STING) as a transmission barrier against IAVs. STING activated nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and downstream NF-κB-stimulated genes (NSGs) through a specific domain. Among these NSGs,