Figure 4

HBV infection, known to induce Nrf2 activity, enhances ALR expression. (A) ALR mRNA expression in HBV-positive hepatoma cell lines (HepG2.2.15, PLC) compared with noninfected PHH and HepG2 cells was analyzed by qRT-PCR. 18S ribosomal RNA expression was used for normalization. *P < 0.05 differs from PHH and HepG2. (B) Huh7.5 cells were transfected with HCV replicon pJFH/J6 and replication-deficient construct pJFH/J6_GND (served as control) as well as PHHs were infected with HBV or not. HCV replicating cells were analyzed 72 h after electroporation, the HBV-infected PHH 8 d after infection for ALR mRNA expression. 18S ribosomal RNA expression was used for normalization (mean ± SEM). ^#P < 0.05 differs from noninfected PHH. C) Western blot analysis of liver tissue homogenates derived from HBV-transgenic mice or the corresponding WT animals were performed followed by densitometric analysis of 21- and 23-kDa ALR band.