FIG 3 .

Statin inhibits specific infectivity of EBOV but does not affect entry. (A) Huh7 cells pretreated with the indicated concentrations of statin or DMSO for 48 h were infected with EBOV (MOI = 3.0). For a positive control, cells were pretreated for 1 h with various concentrations of U18666A before infection with EBOV. After 1 h, infected cells were washed with serum-free medium; fresh medium with or without statin or U18666A was then added back to the cells. After 3 h of incubation at 37°C, NP gene RNA copy numbers were determined by qRT-PCR and normalized to GAPDH mRNA. Results represent mean percent normalized NP RNA levels, with error bars indicating standard deviations calculated from 3 independent experiments. *, P < 0.005. (B) Culture supernatants of cells infected with EBOV (MOI = 2.0) and treated with DMSO or statin were harvested 48 hpi, and viral titers were quantified by TCID₅₀ determination. RNA was extracted from supernatants of cells, and absolute quantification of viral RNA copy numbers was done using a standard curve with known viral titers. (C) Ratios were calculated using TCID₅₀-per-milliliter values from panel B divided by the extracellular viral RNA copy numbers from panel A. Mean specific infectivity was calculated as a percentage of DMSO-treated samples. Mean values from triplicate wells are shown, and error bars indicate standard deviations. The graph shown is representative of 3 independent experiments.