Figure 4.

Induction of antiviral proteins by interferon β (IFN-β). (A) mRNA levels of antiviral proteins. Testicular cells were cultured in the absence and presence of 200 U/mL IFN-β for 8 h. Total RNA was extracted, and relative mRNA levels of major antiviral proteins, including IFN-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), 2′-5′-oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1), and Mx GTPase 1 (MX1), were determined using real-time qRT-PCR. The lowest mRNA levels of the antiviral proteins were set as “1.” Fold changes normalizing to 1 were presented. Data are presented as the means ± SEM of three independent experiments. (B) Protein levels of the antiviral proteins. Testicular cells were cultured in the absence and the presence of 200 U/mL IFN-β for 24 h, cell lysates were subjected to Western blot analysis. (C) Antiviral protein levels were quantitatively analyzed by measuring densitometry of bands in Western blots. Images represent at least three independent experiments. Data are presented as the means ± SEM of three experiments (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01).