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. 2013 Mar 26;8(3):e59591. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059591

Figure 8. HCMV infection increases HepG2 tumorsphere formation.

Figure 8

Upper panel: HepG2 cells and MRC-5 cells were infected with HCMV, UV-inactivated HCMV or left uninfected. The tumorsphere formation was assessed at day 9–10 post-infection. Representative phase contrast micrographs of HepG2 tumorspheres are shown. As a negative control, HCMV-infected MRC5 cells did not form tumorspheres. Magnification: 100× (200× in upper left corner of each picture). Lower panel: When we challenged the HepG2 cultures to form tumorspheres, we found that HCMV infection formed 2.5-fold more tumorspheres than uninfected cultures. The histogram presents tumorsphere formation presented as the average number of spheres per 10,000 cells plated (± SEM). Results represent three biological replicates. **P<0.01.