FIG. 3.

Involvement of STAT3 in HCV-induced AR activation. (A) Huh-7 cells were cotransfected with pSG5-AR and HCV-FL or vector alone. Cells are treated with 10 nM DHT and 20 nM LY294002 or 50 μM AG490. Luciferase activity was measured and is presented as an average from three independent experiments (mean ± the SD). (B) Huh-7 cells were cotransfected with pSG5-AR and HCV-core (0.6 and 1.8 μg) or vector alone (control). Transfected cells were treated with 10 nM DHT in presence or absence of 50 μM AG490, and the luciferase activity was measured. The lowest level of significance was P < 0.001. (C) Huh-7 cells were transfected with vector control or HCV-core plasmid DNA (1.8 μg), and cell lysates were analyzed after 48 h of transfection for core protein expression by Western blot analysis using a rabbit anti-core antibody. The blot was reprobed with antibody to actin as an internal control.