HCV NS5A reduced MG132-induced apoptosis.

HepG2-NS5A (A) and HepG2 control (B) cells were treated with 0–10 μM MG132 for 48 hours, and stained with 0.1% crystal violet. C, D, HepG2 control or HepG2-NS5A cells were treated with 0–10 μM MG132 for 24 hours, and apoptosis was quantified with the APOPercentage Apoptosis Assay according to the manufacturer’s instructions. C, Purple-red-stained cells were identified as apoptotic cells using light microscopy (40X). D, The number of purple-red cells per 300 cells was counted as previously described [14]. *P<0.05, compared to HepG2 control cells by Student's t-test. E, Western blot analyses of poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) expression in HepG2 control or HepG2-NS5A cells at 24 hours after treatment with or without 10 μM MG132.