Figure 10

HCV replication in the infected cell culture is resistant to IFN-α. Huh-7 cells were treated with different doses IFN-α 2 b (1000 IU/ml)96 hrs after HCV infection. (A) After 72 hours of treatment HCV levels in the infected cells were examined for HCV-GFP expression under a fluorescence microscope. (B) HCV core protein detection by Western blot analysis and β-actin as loading control. (C) HCV mRNA detection by real-time RT-PCR after IFN-α 2 b treatment with different doses. The HCV mRNA was expressed as log copies per μg of cellular RNA. The dotted line indicates the detection limit of the assay. (D) HCV RNA detection in the multicycle infected cell culture by RT-nested PCR (RT-N PCR) and Southern blot (SB) analysis. The P1/T1 and P2/T2 represents the number of passage of HCV infection and treatment.