Figure 5.

Recombinant DHBV transferring a IFN gene interferes with the establishment of DHBV infection. PDHs were infected with wild-type DHBV, or they were coinfected with DHBV-IFN or rDHBV-GFP as a negative control. Success of infection was monitored for release of progeny DHBV into cell culture medium by DNA dot-blot (A) and by detection of structural DHBV proteins in cell lysates by Western blot (B) in a representative experiment (C). Quantitative evaluation of DHBV-DNA by dot-blot analysis. Coinfection with rDHBV-IFN interfered with the establishment of a productive DHBV infection as effectively as did IFN protein added at a dose causing maximal inhibition.