Figure 3.

SFTSV NSs antagonizes IFN-γ signaling. (A,B) HEK293 cells were cotransfected with the reporter plasmid of IFN-γ-responsive promoter and the Renilla luciferase control plasmid (pRL-TK), along with an empty control plasmid (vector) or the NSs expression plasmid. Twenty-four hours after transfection, cells were treated with IFN-γ or left untreated for 16 h, followed by the measurement of luciferase activities. Relative luciferase activity (Rel. Luc. Act.) (A) and the fold activation (over the untreated controls) (B) were presented, respectively. (C,D) HepG2 cells were transfected with the NSs expression plasmid or the vector and at 24 h post transfection, cells were treated with IFN-γ for 10 h or left untreated, followed by the analyses of OAS2 and IP-10 mRNA expression with real-time quantitative PCR. Graphs show means ± SD, n = 3. **P < 0.01.