Etifoxine, a TSPO Ligand, Worsens Hepatitis C-Related Insulin Resistance but Relieves Lipid Accumulation

Figure 5

Effects of etifoxine on the insulin-mediated FoxO1 expression under HCV infection. (a and b) Huh7.5-SEAP cells (7 x 10⁵) were infected with 0.01 MOI of HCV and treated with etifoxine (0.01-1 μM) or insulin (100 nM) in a 6-well plate. In some experiments, cells were treated with 0.01-1 μM of etifoxine for 1 h before treatments of insulin. Cell lysates were collected at day 6 and the FoxO1, β-actin, and lamin A levels were detected by Western blot. (c) Nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio indicated the extent of FoxO1 translocation to nucleus. Data are expressed as mean ±SD obtained from three individual experiments. < 0.05, < 0.01, and < 0.001 vs. the medium control group; ^#p < 0.05 and ^##p < 0.01 vs. the HCV-infected Huh 7.5-SEAP group; ^&p < 0.05 and ^&&p < 0.01 vs. the insulin-treated group.

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