The Ubiquitin-Specific Protease 18 Promotes Hepatitis C Virus Production by Increasing Viral Infectivity

Figure 2

Protease-independent promotion of HCV production and blunting of type I and type III IFN anti-HCV activity by USP18. Huh7.5 cells were seeded at /well in 12-well plates one day before 2 μg blank vector pcDNA-DEST53, 2 μg USP18 WT, or 2 μg USP18 C64S was transfected. 48 hours posttransfection, J6/JFH1 virus was added () and incubated for 4 hours before the culture medium was removed. And then, the cells were washed and supplied with fresh medium and cultured for another 48 hours. The intracellular total RNA and the culture medium were collected. J6/JFH1 RNA (a) and J6/JFH1 virion production (b, c) in the presence and absence of IFNα or IFNλ were detected by real-time PCR or limiting dilution analysis, respectively. Results are presented as (). .

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