3A). We check details also examined the DNA-binding activity of NF-κB in an ELISA-based colorimetric assay. TNF-α treatment markedly increased the DNA-binding activity of p65, a response that was significantly suppressed by HCV infection (Fig. 3B). These data were confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) (Fig. 3C). Next, we investigated the expression of NF-κB-dependent anti-apoptotic proteins, including Bcl-xL, XIAP, and c-FLIP. Immunoblotting analysis showed that TNF-α-induced expression of Bcl-xL, XIAP, and the long form of c-FLIP (c-FLIPL), which are well-known anti-apoptotic

proteins, was markedly lower in HCV-infected cells. Eventually, caspase-3 was highly activated by TNF-α in HCV-infected cells (Fig. 4A). Augmented activation of caspase-3 in HCV-infected cells was confirmed by the enzyme activity assay of caspase-3 (Fig. 4B). Expression of anti-apoptotic genes was also studied in HCV-infected livers by IHC and quantitative real-time PCR. Compared to livers without viral hepatitis, HCV-infected livers expressed markedly lower protein and mRNA levels of

Bcl-xL, XIAP, and c-FLIP (Fig. 4C,D), supporting the results from our in vitro study. Collectively, these data indicate that HCV infection suppressed the TNF-α-induced expression of anti-apoptotic proteins through the inhibition of NF-κB activation and enhanced TNF-α-induced Bortezomib chemical structure cell death. We sought to identify which HCV proteins

were responsible for the inhibition of TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation through cotransfection of plasmids encoding each viral protein with a luciferase reporter plasmid containing NF-κB-responsive elements. Expression of each viral protein was confirmed by FLAG-tag immunoblotting (Supporting Fig. 2A). First, we investigated whether HCV proteins regulated baseline NF-κB activity without TNF-α treatment, MCE and found that NS4B and NS5A significantly increased baseline NF-κB activity (Supporting Fig. 2B). Next, we examined the role of each HCV protein in the regulation of TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation. At 24 hours after cotransfection, cells were treated with TNF-α for an additional 6 hours and NF-κB activation was determined by luciferase activity. TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation was significantly inhibited by core, NS4B, and NS5B in a gene-dosage–dependent manner (Fig. 5A). The kinase activity of IKK was also significantly reduced by transfection of core, NS4B, and NS5B (Fig. 5B). Note that IKK activity was remarkably decreased by incubation with recombinant HCV core, NS4, and NS5B (Supporting Fig. 2C,D), implying that core, NS4, and NS5B might suppress NF-κB activity through direct interaction with IKK. We also investigated TNF-α-induced NF-κB pathway activation after cotransfection of plasmids carrying the core, NS4B, and NS5B genes.