Fig. 3. CD56⁺ T supernatant (SN) inhibition of HCV replication in primary human hepatocytes.

(A) Effect of CD56⁺ T SN on HCV RNA expression. CD56⁺ T SN was added to HCV JFH-1-infected primary human hepatocyte cultures (day 3 post infection). Total cellular RNA extracted from the cell cultures at 48h posttreatment was subjected to the real-time RT-PCR for HCV and GAPDH RNA quantification. The data are expressed as HCV RNA levels relative (%) to control (without CD56⁺ T SN treatment, which is defined as 100). The results are mean ±SD of triplicate cultures, representative of three experiments (** p<0.01). (B) Effect of CD56⁺ T SN on the expression of both HCV positive (+) and negative (-) strand RNAs. Total cellular RNA extracted from CD56⁺ T SN-treated or untreated HCV JFH-1-infected primary human hepatocytes was subjected to a strand-specific RT-PCR. Amplified RT-PCR products were run on a 1.5% agarose gel.