FIGURE 4.

Bile acid transporter and HBV receptor functions of NTCP mutants. The indicated wild-type and mutant NTCP constructs were (A) mono- or (B) double-transfected into HEK293 cells as indicated. At 48 h post transfection, cells were incubated for 10 min with 10 µM [³H]TC and transport rates were determined compared to wild-type NTCP (set to 100%). Data represent means ± SD of combined data of two independently performed experiments with triplicate determinations. (C) HepG2 cells were transiently transfected with the wild-type and mutant NTCP constructs, respectively. Two days after transfection, cells were infected with HBV for 16 h. At 12 days post infection, cells were stained with an anti-HBc antibody. The numbers of HBV infected cells per well were counted using fluorescence microscopy. Data represents means ± SD of two independent experiments each with triplicate determinations (n = 6). *Significantly lower compared with wild-type NTCP with p < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA with Dunnett‘s multiple comparison test).