Fig. 3

HCV core protein and NS4B promote, directly or under Wnt3a induction, the nuclear translocation of β-catenin in Huh7 cells and LO2 cells. a Subcellular localization of β-catenin in Huh7 cells (magnification, ×1000). β-catenin protein was detected by using an anti-β-catenin antibody which was visualized by an anti-rabbit secondary antibody conjugated with CF 488A dye (green). Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (blue). b The histogram indicating the percentage of positive cells for β-catenin nuclear localization in Huh7 cells. HCV core protein and NS4B promote the nuclear translocation of β-catenin in Huh7 cells. Compared with Huh7-mkate2, **P < 0.01. The percentage of positive cells for β-catenin nuclear staining was the ratio of the nuclear β-catenin positive cells to total number of cells. At least 200 cells were counted from three different microscopic fields for each cell strain. c Subcellular localization of β-catenin in LO2 cells (magnification, ×1000). d The histogram indicating the percentage of positive cells for β-catenin nuclear localization in LO2 cells with non-Wnt3a stimulation. HCV core protein and NS4B do not increase the nuclear translocation of β-catenin in LO2 cells. Compared with LO2-mkate2, P > 0.05. e Subcellular localization of β-catenin in LO2 cells under 24 h 200 ng/ml Wnt3a stimulation (magnification, ×1000). f The histogram indicating the percentage of positive cells for β-catenin nuclear localization in LO2 cells under 200 ng/mL Wnt3a stimulation. HCV core protein and NS4B increase the nuclear translocation of β-catenin in LO2 cells under Wnt3a stimulation. Compared with LO2-mkate2, **P < 0.01