FIG 7.

Exogenous palmitic acid treatment prevents downregulation of CLDN1 and HNF4α expression after DGAT1 silencing. (A) From day 10 after transduction with lentiviruses harboring shRNA-DGAT1-1402, the transduced cells were cultured in medium that had been supplemented with 10% charcoal-stripped fetal bovine serum and 1% bovine serum albumin with either 50 μM palmitic acid or DMSO. The cell pellets were harvested at days 10 and 27 after transduction (days 0 and 17 after the palmitic acid treatment) and subjected to immunoblot analysis to detect DGAT1, HNF4α, and CLDN1. Data are representative of two independent experiments. (B) HCV entry (of JFH1 HCVpp) into DGAT1-silenced cell lines was assessed after DMSO or palmitic acid treatment. Data are expressed as percentages of the values for the pretreatment cell lines (n = 3). Bar graphs represent means ± SEM. *, P < 0.001.