TABLE 1.

Summary of analysis of viral load, antigen staining, and histology of the liver

Group and time	No. of animals analyzed	Reporter gene (GFP or RFP) fluorescence in livera	Viremia (mean no. of copies/ml ± SD)	Mean % intrahepatic WHV DNA ± SD		Antigen core staining (mean % WHc virus-positive hepatocytes ± SD)	PCNA staining (mean % PCNA-positive hepatocytes ± SD)	Inflammatory activity (mean Metavir score ± SD)
				Total DNA (initial total DNA)	cccDNA (initial cccDNA)
L-FMAU-FTC
T0	6	− (0/6)	1.7 × 1010 ± 9.3 × 109	100	100	45 ± 10	0.38 ± 0.27	1.5 ± 0.58
M1	6		1.1 × 106 ± 1.0 × 106	12 ± 4	63 ± 19	38 ± 5	0.67 ± 0.46	1.7 ± 0.51
M2	5	− (0/5)	5.3 × 106 ± 5.0 × 106	5 ± 3	53 ± 37	37 ± 11	1.37 ± 0.51	1.6 ± 0.54
M6	5		5.6 × 107 ± 9.4 × 107	34 ± 13	62 ± 58	23 ± 18	1.32 ± 1.12	1.5 ± 0.57
L-FMAU-FTC+Ad-IFN
T0	6	− (0/6)	2.5 × 1010 ± 7.6 × 109	100	100	52 ± 6	0.58 ± 0.25	1.2 ± 0.45
M1	6		8.6 × 106 ± 2.5 × 106	19 ± 25	88 ± 41	41 ± 10	0.84 ± 0.73	2.4 ± 0.89
M2	5	+ (5/5)	4.7 × 106 ± 9.0 × 105	11 ± 5	76 ± 71	45 ± 7	1.06 ± 0.61	2.5 ± 0.58
M6	3		2.5 × 109 ± 3.7 × 109	56 ± 60	86 ± 100	43 ± 24	1.49 ± 0.66	2.4 ± 0.50
Ad-IFN
T0	2	− (0/2)	1.4 × 1010 ± 1.6 × 109	100	100	50 ± 3	0.43 ± 0.22	2 ± 0
M1	2		2.2 × 1010 ± 9.5 × 109	112 ± 18	85 ± 16	56 ± 5	0.98 ± 0.42	2 ± 0
M2	2	+ (2/2)	1.4 × 1010 ± 1.5 × 1010	113 ± 14	80 ± 21	55 ± 4	1.36 ± 0.04	2 ± 0
M6	1			93	101	59	1.06	2 ± 0
Ad-GFP
T0	2	− (0/2)	1.8 × 1010 ± 1.1 × 1010	100	100	42 ± 3	0.95 ± 0.82	1.5 ± 0.5
M1	2		1.1 × 1010 ± 9.9 × 109	136 ± 85	119 ± 51	58 ± 9	1.2 ± 0.65	1.5 ± 0.5
M2	2	+ (2/2)	1.1 × 1010 ± 3.9 × 109	ND	ND	49 ± 15	1.48 ± 0.74	1.5 ± 0.5
M6	2		1.8 × 1010 ± 8.3 × 109	166 ± 88	126 ± 63	49 ± 10	0.665 ± 0.83	1.5 ± 0.5
Untreated
T0	1	− (0/1)	1.5 × 1010	100	100	57	0.78	2
M1	1		1.9 × 1010	121	85	57	0.55	1.5
M2	1	− (0/1)	2.8 × 1010	127	149	55	0.83	2
M6	1		4.0 × 1010	160	146	50	0.978	2

^aA “+” indicates that specific fluorescence was detected by using confocal microscopy in liver sections. The ratio in parentheses indicates the number of animals that presented a positive fluorescence versus the total liver sections observed per group. All results mentioned here (viremia, intrahepatic DNA, anticore, PCNA staining and Metavir score) are means of the different results obtained for all animals in the same group. For intrahepatic viral DNA, baseline levels were considered arbitrarily as 100%. For WHV core antigen and PCNA staining, the values indicate the mean numbers of hepatocytes expressing these antigens. For liver histology analysis, the mean inflammatory activity score for each animal group is presented.