Nuclear-Targeting Delivery of CRISPRa System for Upregulation of β-Defensin against Virus Infection by Dexamethasone and Phenylalanine Dual-Modified Dendrimer

Figure 7

(a) Virus plaque images and (b) virus titer. Empty vector: G4 (Phe)_50%-DET without plasmids; dCas9-scr sgRNA: G4 (Phe)_50%-DET complexed with dCas9 and scr sgRNA plasmids; dCas9-sgHBD1: G4 (Phe)_50%-DET complexed with dCas9 and HBD1 sgRNA plasmids; NC indicates mice receiving PBS treatment. Viral titers in cell culture medium were detected by plaque assay. Data were presented as of three independent experiments. . The “1,” “2,” and “3” of the axis represent samples receiving empty vector, dCas9-scr sgRNA, and dCas9-sgHBD1 treatments, respectively. (c) Inverted fluorescence microscopy images of A549 cells receiving different treatments followed by VSV-GFP virus infection. Green fluorescence: VSV-GFP. Scale bars represent 250 μm. (d) Flow cytometry analysis of the green fluorescence- (GFP-) positive cells in samples receiving different treatments. Complexes were prepared for G4 (Phe)_50%-DET/dCas9-sgRNA at N/P of 8. scr sgRNA represented nonsense sgRNA and sgHBD1 represented mixture of human β-defensin-1 sgRNA (sg5+sg7+sg9).

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