FIG 4.
Eradication of HCV infection does not restore the HCV-mediated overexpression of miR-146a-5p. Persistently HCV (Jc1E2FLAG)-infected hepatocyte-like cells were treated or not with a combination of DAAs (5 nM DCV, 1 μM SOF, and 0.5 μM SMV). Noninfected cells were analyzed as controls. (A) After 4 weeks of DAA treatment followed by 2 weeks of washout, HCV RNA loads were assessed by RT-qPCR assay of cell supernatants from HCV-infected nontreated cells (HCV) or HCV-infected DAA-treated cells (HCV + DAAs). The limit of quantification (LOQ), indicated by a dashed line, was 103 copies/ml. Results for 4 biological replicates are shown. Median HCV loads are shown as black lines. The cross indicates one sample that was HCV RNA negative. (B) miR-146a-5p expression was analyzed by RT-qPCR assay of total RNA extracts from the same samples as well as noninfected control cells. The plots show sample lower quartiles (25th percentile; bottom of the box), medians (50th percentile; horizontal line in box), and upper quartiles (75th percentile; top of the box). The bottom and top whiskers indicate the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles, respectively. The red dashed line indicates a fold change of 1. *, P < 0.05 (two-tailed Mann-Whitney test); nd, not determined; ns, not significant.