Fig. 5.

The role of HBc in NCL-mediated transcriptional regulatory effect. (A) Huh7 cells were transfected with siRNA and 2 d later were transfected with WT-HBVcircle or HBc-HBVcircle. Three days later, NCL mRNA were evaluated by qPCR. (B) The expression of HBc and NCL protein was detected by western blot. (C) The levels of HBeAg and HBsAg in supernatants were measured by ELISA. (D) The relative levels of HBV RNA and HBVcircle DNA were determined by qPCR. (E) Chromatin immunoprecipitation was performed using lysates of Huh7 cells transfected with WT-HBVcircle or HBc-HBVcircle. Immunoprecipitation of HBVcircle using antibody against NCL or IgG control was analyzed by qPCR and shown as % input. **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.