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. 2019 Apr 10;8(4):338. doi: 10.3390/cells8040338

Figure 4.

Figure 4

ATG5 upregulates HCV replication through conjugation complexing with ATG12. pATG5, pEmpty, Neg siRNA and ATG5 siRNA were transfected into Huh7.5.1 cells or miR-130a knock down cells. Total RNA or protein of the cells was harvested at 48 h post JFH1 HCV (JFH1 at 0.2 MOI) infection. The selected gene mRNAs were assessed by qPCR. The protein levels were monitored by Western blot. (A) Overexpression of pATG5 increases ATG5 mRNA levels compared to pEmpty; (B) overexpression of pATG5 promotes HCV RNA expression in JFH1 infected Huh7.5.1 cells compared to pEmpty; (C) overexpression of pATG5 does not affect cell viability; (D) overexpression of pATG5 increases both monomeric ATG5 and the ATG5-ATG12 complex protein levels and promotes HCV core levels compared to pEmpty; (E) ATG5 siRNA decreases ATG5 levels in Huh7.5.1 and JFH1 cells compared to Neg siRNA; (F) ATG5 siRNA inhibits HCV RNA levels compared to Neg siRNA; (G) ATG5 siRNA does not affect cell viability; and (H) ATG5 siRNA decreases ATG5 and HCV core protein levels. ATG5 siRNA abrogates the increase of ATG5 and HCV core in miR-130a gRNA knock down cells. Data are expressed as mean ± SD of at least three sample replicates. ** p < 0.01, and *** p < 0.001.