Figure 8.

Cholesterol provokes rotavirus replication in the absence of HMGCR activity. With rotavirus SA11 strain (MOI 0.7) infection and subsequently treated with the combination of 50 µM atorvastatin and 150 µM cholesterol for 48 hours respectively. The intra- (left) and extracellular (right) rotavirus RNA levels were measured by qRT-PCR in Caco2 cells (n = 8) (a), and in MA104 cells (n = 6) (c). The expressions of rotavirus VP4 protein were measured by western blot in Caco2 cells (b), and in MA104 cells (d). With rotavirus SA11 infection (MOI 0.7), sh10952 and sh10955 HMGCR knockdown Caco2 cells were treated with 150 µM cholesterol for 48 hours. The intra- (left) and extracellular (right) rotavirus RNA levels (n = 4) (e) and the expression of rotavirus VP4 protein (f). All data presented as mean ± SEM, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001