Figure 4:

The effect of TLR7/8 agonists on drug transporter expression in PHT. Trophoblasts from 4–5 independent placentas were cultured for 3 days and treated with CL097 [25 μg/mL], Imiquimod [5 μg/mL], or ssRNA40 [5 μg/mL] and ssRNA41 (negative control) for 12 h. [A] The activation of TLR signaling pathways was evaluated by measuring the expression cytokine target genes. The relative mRNA expression of [B] ABCB1, [C] ABCG2, [D] SLC29A1, and [E] SLC29A2 was determined by qPCR. [F] The effect of TLR7 activation by imiquimod on ENT2 protein expression was determined by Western blot followed by densitometry. β-Actin was used as a loading control. [G] The effect of TLR7/8 activation on entecavir accumulation in PHT was assessed by measuring the intracellular levels of radiolabeled entecavir after a 48 hr treatement with CL097 [25 μg/mL], Imiquimod [5 μg/mL], or ssRNA40 [5 μg/mL]. Statistical differences were determined by paired t-test. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M, *P ⩽ 0.05 relative to the control.