FIG 3.

ISG15 silencing enhances the type I IFN-mediated antiviral effect against HEV. Huh7-S10-3 liver cells were cotransfected with 20 nM ISG15-targeted siRNA (siISG15) or with control siRNA (siCnt) along with HEV P6GLuc replicon RNA (A) or HEV P6 infectious cDNA clone viral genomic RNA (B) at 24 hpt. The cells were either left untreated (w/o IFN-α) or treated with 100 IU/ml IFN-α (w IFN-α 100IU), and the amounts of HEV RNA were monitored at 5 dpt. The GLuc activity levels in culture supernatants (A) and the intracellular HEV P6 viral RNA levels (B) were normalized to the IFN-α-untreated control levels. The data represent means ± SEM of results of n = 5 (A) and n = 2 (B) independent transfection experiments. ***, P ≤ 0.001 (compared to siCnt w/o IFN-α); aaa, P ≤ 0.001 (compared to siCnt w IFN-α100IU).