Skip to main content
. 2002 Aug;76(16):8189–8199. doi: 10.1128/JVI.76.16.8189-8199.2002

FIG. 2.

FIG. 2.

Qualitative assay detection of positive- and negative-strand HCV RNA in a primary culture of healthy human hepatocytes infected in vitro with an HCV-positive serum and effect of IFN-α. The hepatocyte culture FT147, infected 3 days after plating by HCV-positive serum S26, is shown. Positive-strand (+) RNA but not negative-strand (-) RNA was present in the inoculum. (a) Primary hepatocyte culture in the absence of IFN-α. Positive-strand HCV RNA was detected with the qualitative strand-specific rTth PCR assay from day 1 to the end of the culture (day 12), whereas negative-strand RNA was detected from days 2 to 10. (b) Culture in the presence of 5,000 U of IFN-α per ml. Positive-strand HCV RNA was detected from days 1 to 10, whereas negative-strand RNA was never detected. (c) Culture treated on day 3 with 5,000 U of IFN-α per ml. Positive-strand RNA was detected throughout the culture period, whereas negative-strand RNA was no longer detected after day 5. Similar patterns (not shown) were observed with the following cultures infected with the corresponding sera: FT141 and S23, FT143 and S34, FT144 and S27, FT154 and S23, FT155 and S20, and FT156 and S17. MK, molecular size standards.