Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 15 pp 11668—11682

Figure 6. Solamargine interacts with transcription factor MZF1 to inhibit the activity of pgpromoter and the replication of hepatitis B virus. (A) HBV pgpromoter luciferase assay vector was transfected into Huh7 cells. 2 d later, siRNA of potential banding sites was also transfected, the luciferase relative expression in every group was detected. (B) Protein levels of banding sites in Huh7 cells. GAPDH was used to normalize protein levels. (C) HBV pgpromoter luciferase assay vector was transfected into Huh7 cells for 2d, then one group was added Solamargine 5 μM, the other group overexpressed MZF1 simultaneously and the luciferase relative expression was detected. (D) HBV plasmid was transfected into Huh7 cells, 2 d later Solamargine was added into the cells, the other group overexpressed MZF1 simultaneously. Samples were collected after 1 d culture, and the HBV DNA copy number of supernatant was detected by PCR. (E) MZF1 level in Huh7 cells. GAPDH was used to normalize protein levels. All assays were performed in triplicate and results are presented as means ± SD. ^*p < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001, Student’s t-test.