Fig. 1.
Inhibition of HBV replication by poly(I:C). (A) HepG2-NTCP cells (∼105 cells/well) were inoculated with HBV (at ∼2000 Geq/cell) followed 16 h later by either mock-transfection (–) or transfection with 100 ng/well of poly(I:C). The cells were incubated in PMM for up to 9 days; the medium was changed every 3 days. Cells immunostained for HBcAg at 9 days post-infection are shown in red. The image (magnified ×100) is overlapped on the right with nuclear (DAPI) staining. (B) Intracellular viral pgRNA and capsid DNA at 9 days post-infection were measured by RT-qPCR and real-time qPCR, respectively. The average copy numbers of triplicate measurements are shown as bars with standard errors indicated at the top (∗∗P < 0.01).