Anti-viral role of toll like receptor 4 in hepatitis B virus infection: An in vitro study

Figure 1 Changes in viral titres on toll like receptor 4 activation with its specific ligand (LPS). A: mRNA expression of toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) is repressed in HepG2.2.15 cells compared to HepG2 cells. The mRNA expression of TLR4 in HepG2 cells was arbitrarily set as 1, and the fold change in HepG2.2.15 cells was then evaluated. (^aP < 0.05). HBV titre was evaluated in the culture supernatant of HepG2.2.15 cells after treatment with 1, 2 and 4 μg/mL of TLR4 ligand (LPS) for 72 h; B: HBV DNA was isolated from the culture media and the load was assessed by absolute real-time PCR using WHO standards. There was a dose dependent decrease in viral load (^aP < 0.05); C and D: HBsAg and HBeAg were detected from the culture supernatant of treated cells by ELISA. A dose-dependent repression of viral protein was observed (^aP < 0.05).