Figure 7. The antiviral IFN-α response is downregulated by miR-21 in hepatocytes.

Huh7 hepatocytes were transfected with miR-21 mimics or control mimics, miR-21 inhibitor or control inhibitor (final concentration, 50 nM), as indicated. After transfection for 30 h, the cells were treated with recombinant human IFN-α (100 U/ml) or infected with Sendai virus (SeV), as indicated. After 12 h, IFNAR1 and IFNAR2 mRNA and protein expression was determined by qPCR (A, B), RT-PCR (C) and Western blot analysis (D), respectively. Data are shown as the meansSD (n = 3) from one representative experiment. Similar results were obtained in three independent experiments. **, p<0.01; *, p<0.05.