Figure 1. HCV Core overcomes ATRA-induced apoptosis in a human hepatoma cell line, HepG2.

HepG2-vector and HepG2-Core cells were treated with ATRA at the indicated concentrations for 72 h. (A) MTT assay was performed to determine cell viability. Data represent the means ± SD of four independent experiments (n = 4). (B) The activities of caspase-3 and -7 were measured as described in the Methods section (n = 4). (C) Cell cycle profiles were determined by FACS analysis to show the subG1 fraction in percentage. (D) The graph shows the percentage of subG1 cells prepared as in (C) (n = 3).