Figure 4.

Silencing effect of HCV-3a Core-specific shRNAs show a dramatic reduction of viral titer in Huh-7 cells infected with HCV-3a sera. Huh-7 cells were infected with high titer sera samples from HCV-3a patients to establish in vitro cell culture model of HCV-3a, cells were maintained overnight at 37°C in 5% CO₂, incubation was continued for 48 hrs. Huh-7 infected cells were again plated and transfected with shRNAs against HCV-3a genes for additional 48 hrs. Cells were harvested and intracellular HCV RNA levels were quantified by Real Time PCR. Data are expressed as mean percent viral load of non-siRNA treated samples. Nine independent experiments with different sera infected cells and each with triplicate samples were performed. Error bars indicate, mean S.D p < 0.01 verses S3a.