Figure 1.

IFN-α pretreatment inhibits HBV infection. Differentiated HepaRG cells were treated with 1000 IU/mL of IFN-α for 1 day (IFN-a(−1)) and then infected with HBV (MOI = 200) (a). HBeAg from cell culture supernatant was measured by ELISA at day 10 (b). HBsAg was measured at day 7 and day 10 (c). HBV cccDNA and intracellular DNA were evaluated by qPCR (d). HBV core was detected by Western blot (e). Data are means ± s.d. ^∗P < 0.05, ^∗∗P < 0.01, and ^∗∗∗P < 0.001 by Student's unpaired two-tailed t-test.