Figure 8

Antiviral effect of IFN-α against HCV replication in the infected Huh-7 cells in culture. S-Huh-7 and R-Huh-7 cells were seeded at density of 1 × 10⁴ cell per well in a chamber slide. The next day cultures were infected with infectious HCV GFP virus at the TCID50 (1 × 10⁵ virus particles/ml) or MOI of 10 using the standard protocol described in the material and method section. After 24 hours cultures were treated with IFN-α (1000 IU/ml). (A) Intracellular GFP expression in the infected S-Huh-7 cells in culture at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours of post-infection in the presence and absence of IFN-α. The results show that HCV RNA replication in the infected cells can be inhibited over time by treatment with alpha interferon in S-Huh-7 cells. (B) Intracellular GFP expression in the infected R-Huh-7 cells in culture at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours of post-infection in the presence and absence of IFN-α. The results suggest that HCV RNA replication remain resistant to IFN-α treatment at all time points in infected R-Huh-7 cells with a defective Jak-Stat pathway.