Figure 5.

Effect of functional NLRP3 and caspase-1 on viral replication and IL-1β secretion in human PBMCs infected with SFTSV. Glibenclamide, an NLRP3-specific inhibitor, and Ac-YVAD-cmk, an inhibitor of caspase-1, were used to pre-treat PBMCs, prior to viral infection, to show their impact on IL-1β secretion and viral replication. (A,B) PBMCs were treated with glibenclamide (1 μM) or DMSO for 6 h, followed by infection with SFTSV (MOI = 1). IL-1β levels were determined in the culture medium at 24, 48, and 72 h pi by ELISA (A) and viral RNA copy numbers were measured in the total RNA extracted from the cells by real-time PCR with primers for the viral S genome (B). The (C,D) PBMCs were pre-treated with Ac-YVAD-cmk (1 μM) or DMSO for 6 h, followed by viral infection (MOI = 1). IL-1β levels were determined by ELISA (C) and the viral RNA copy numbers measured by real-time PCR (D). (E) No effect of glibenclamide (1 μM) or Ac-YVAD-cmk (1 μM) on liability of PBMCs were detected as determined with CCK-8 assays. The presented data were mean ± SD; n = 3; P-values were calculated using a One-way ANOVA test (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001).