• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

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

tetano

Editor, Senior Moderator
Science


. 2026 Feb 26;391(6788):eads4405.
doi: 10.1126/science.ads4405. Epub 2026 Feb 26.
STING-NF-κB signaling builds an influenza spillover barrier

Runxin Ye[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP], Songdi Wang[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ying Hu[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yiran Pan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wenwen Zheng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Fengyan Xia[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yanpu Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Haoran Guo[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Shu Zheng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wei Wei[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Xiao-Fang Yu[SUP] 1 4 5 [/SUP]


Affiliations
Abstract

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, growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible protein 34 (GADD34) was crucial for IAV restriction. Some IAVs have evolved to evade activating human STING by mutating residue 115 in their matrix protein 1 (M1), which is essential for efficient viral replication in human respiratory cells. This barrier against the zoonotic threat of IAVs provides a tool for future investigations into the biological functions of the cyclic guanosine monophosphate-adenosine monosphosphate (cGMP-AMP) synthase (cGAS)-STING-NF-κB signaling pathway.


 
Back
Top