Figure 3. Quercetin reduces the infectivity of HCV particles.

(a) JFH1-HCVcc virions were incubated in the presence of 50 μM quercetin (JFH1 + Q50 μM), or DMSO as carrier control, for 1 h at 37 °C in cell-free conditions, then used to inoculate Huh-7.5 cells. HCV infectivity was measured 72 h later by the TCID₅₀ assay. (b) Effect of quercetin on HCV entry step. Huh-7.5 cells were treated with 50 μM quercetin, or DMSO as vehicle control, and transduced with HCVpp, or VSV-Gpp as control, 6 h later. Seventy-two hours post-transduction, a luciferase assay was performed. Results are represented as mean value ± SEM of ratio to control obtained from three independent experiments.