Figure 5. RV1B induces BSMC mRNA expression of IFNs.

BSMCs exposed to RV1B at increasing doses (MOI = multiplicity of infection) induced expression of IFN-β (A) and IFN-λ₁ (D) 24 h post-infection as determined by RT-qPCR. IFN-β and IFN-λ₁ expression was further enhanced after 48 h (B, E). Chloroquine (10 µg/ml) reduced RV1B-induced IFN-β expression after 24 and 48 h (C), whereas IFN- λ₁ expression was reduced after 48 h only (F). Data are presented as mean with SEM and n = 6 for 24 h RV1B infection, n = 3 for 48 h infection and n = 2–3 for chloroquine experiments (BSMCs from three individual donors). *p≤0.05 and **p≤0.01 compared to non-infected cells (control).