Figure 3.

HBV infection and replication in CD34⁺ PBSCs from HBV chronic carriers. Comparison of HBV DNA levels in culture of CD34⁺ PBSCs derived from five patients with different serum HBV DNA levels (above-detection limit group and below-detection limit group); the results are shown as follows: (A) The intracellular HBV DNA of CD34⁺ PBSCs and (B) HBV DNA in culture supernatants of CD34⁺ PBSCs. The results indicate that HBV DNA levels both in cells and supernatants increased progressively during the culture period; furthermore, HBV DNA levels of cultures from patients of the above-detection limit group increased more obviously than that of the below-detection limit group.