(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate enhances poly I:C-induced interferon-λ1 production and inhibits hepatitis C virus replication in hepatocytes

Figure 1 (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate enhances poly I:C-induced interferon-λ1 expression in JFH-1-Huh7 cells. JFH-1-infected Huh7 cells (72 h post-infection) were treated with EGCG at the indicated concentrations for 1 h prior to poly I:C (1 μg/mL) stimulation. Total RNA extracted from cells after 24 h of stimulation was subjected to real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for the determination of IFN-λ1 and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA levels. The data are expressed as IFN-λ1 mRNA (A) levels relative (fold) to the control (vehicle only, which is defined as 1). After 48 h of stimulation, the supernatant (SN) was collected from the cell cultures for the determination of IFN-λ1 protein levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (B). The results shown are the mean ± SD of triplicate measurements representative of three experiments (Poly I:C vs LyoVec, ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01). IFN: Interferon; EGCG: (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate.