FIG. 4.

Cellular binding of HCV-LPs and recombinant envelope E1 and E2 in the presence of heparin oligosaccharides. HCV-LPs (A), recombinant E2 (B), and E1 protein (C) were preincubated withheparin-derived oligosaccharides ranging in size from di- to eicosasaccharides or a control decasaccharide containing the pentasaccharide antithrombin-III binding site (each at 50 μg/ml) for 30 min at room temperature. Viral protein-oligosaccharide complexes were added to human hepatoma cells, and cellular binding of viral proteins was quantified by flow cytometry using anti-envelope MAb as described for Fig. 2A. Data are shown as percent cellular viral protein binding relative to binding of viral proteins without oligosaccharides (100%).