FIG. 7.

Reduction of N-Ras protein expression by siRNA specific to N-Ras increases HCV replication. Replicon cells were transfected with siRNA (+) or with nontargeting siRNA (−). (A) After 30 h, cells were lysed and N-Ras, NS5A, and actin were visualized by Western blotting. (B) Total RNA was isolated and cDNA was synthesized by using HCV minus RNA strand-specific primer. Real-time PCR analysis of HCV RNA replication was performed using HCV 5′ non-translated region-specific primers. The values represent the averages of three independent experiments ± standard deviations.