Figure 4. Ebola virus (EBOV) transcription- and replication-competent virus-like particles (trVLPs) inhibit nuclear translocation of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3).

(A) HepG2 cells were infected with or without the EBOV trVLPs for 36 hr, and the cells were infected with or without Sendai virus (SeV) at an MOI of 2 for another 12 hr. The cells were then fixed and immunostained with anti-IRF3 (red) and anti-VP35 (green) antibodies. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue), and images were obtained using a Zeiss LSM 800 Meta confocal microscope. Scale bar, 10 μm. (B) The percentage of IRF3 nuclear distribution in (A) was analyzed using ImageJ software. The ratio of IRF3 distribution in ten cells from two independent assays is presented as the mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM; ns, not significant, ***p < 0.001). (C) HepG2 cells infected with live EBOV (MOI = 10) for 72 hr were immunostained with anti-IRF3 (red) and anti-NP (green) antibodies. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue), and images were obtained using a Zeiss LSM 800 Meta confocal microscope. Scale bar, 10 μm.