Fig. 3. The impacts of anti-COVID-19 drugs on the growth and viral gene expression of KSHV+ tumor cells.

a BCBL-1 and BCP-1 cells were treated with a dose range of 6 anti-COVID-19 drugs, for 72 h, then the cell proliferation status was examined using the WST-1 cell proliferation assays (Roche). b, c Cells were treated with Azithromycin (10 µM), Chloroquine diphosphate (10 µM), Hydroxychloroquine sulfate (10 µM), Nafamostat mesylate (10 µM), Remdesivir (3 µM), Tocilizumab (20 µg/mL), respectively, for 72 h, then the transcripts of representative lytic genes were quantified by using qRT-PCR. Protein expression was measured by immunoblots. d The supernatants from drug-treated cells above were collected to infect naive HEK293T cells, then viral genome levels were quantified by using qPCR with Lana-specific primers. The sodium butyrate (NaB, 0.3 mM) was used as a positive control. Error bars represent S.D. for 3 independent experiments, **p < 0.01 (vs the vehicle control).