Fig. 1
HBV diminishes complement C9 expression. Relative mRNA expression of different membrane attack complex components in a Huh7 cells transfected with full-length HBV linear monomer relative to untransfected cells (control) and b HepG2hNTCP cells infected with cell culture-derived HBV particles in comparison to uninfected HepG2hNTCP cells (control) as measured by Real-time PCR. c Serum concentration of C9 in IT, EP-CHB, IC, EN-CHB and HC detected by ELISA. d Relative mRNA expression of C9 in chronically HBV infected liver biopsy tissues compared to control liver tissues. e Relative mRNA expression of C9 in Huh7 cells transfected separately with plasmids encoding all three HBV surface proteins (HBs), HBV core (HBc), HBV Polymerase (HBp) or HBV X (HBx). f Expression of C9 protein in HBx or empty vector transfected Huh7 cells assayed by immunoblot with anti-C9 primary antibody; cellular α-Tubulin served as the loading control. g Relative mRNA expression of C9 when transfected with different concentrations (0, 400, 600 and 1000 ng/ml) of pcDNA3.1/myc-His(B)-HBx plasmid. mRNA expression was normalized with endogenous 18S ribosomal RNA value. In cases of a, b and d–g, values represent data from three independent experiments, mean ± SD. For c statistical significance was assessed by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's Multiple Comparison Test (**p < 0.005 and ***p < 0.0001). Paired t-tests were performed for comparisons of paired groups in a, b and d-f. **p < 0.005, ***p < 0.0001