Figure 6.

miR-221 exerts antiviral function by targeting SOCS1. NPCs were untreated or transfected with miR-221 mimics only, miR-221 mimics combined with SOCS1 overexpression plasmid, miR-221 mimics combined with control plasmid. Twenty-four hours after transfection, NPCs were infected by HCMV at MOI 1 for 24 h. (A) The protein level of SOCS1 was detected by western blot, and quantified as indicated. (B) The HCMV copy numbers was checked by qRT-PCR assay, and HCMV titer was evaluated by plaque assay. (C) IFN-a and IFN-b mRNA expression were determined by qRT-PCR. (D) The levels of IFN-a and IFN-b cytokines in the cell culture supernatant was determined by ELISA. (E) Expression levels of ISG15, MxA and OAS were quantified by real-time PCR. These experiments have been repeated three times, and the representative data were shown. (**p < 0.01 vs only HCMV infected group, ## p < 0.01 vs HCMV + miR-221 mimics).