Effects of HBeAg on mouse Kupffer cells and THP-1 macrophages and DR5 silencing.

(A) Kupffer cells isolated from control mice or TGD mice that had been injected with pUC19 (HBV-) or the 1.3mer HBV genomic DNA (HBV+) were analyzed for the RNA levels of M1 markers (i.e., IL-1β and TNF-α) and M2 markers (i.e., IL-10 and CD163) by RT-qPCR. Control mice intraperitoneally injected with LPS (1 mg/kg) for 48 hours were also analyzed to serve as the control. (B) THP-1 macrophages without (M0) or with induction of M1-like polarization (THP-1(LPS+IFN-γ)) or M2-like polarization (THP-1(IL4+13)) and without (mock) or with the treatment of HSA or HBeAg were analyzed for their viability using the CCK8 assay. (C) THP-1 macrophages without (shNS) or with DR5 silencing (shDR5) were lysed for the analysis of DR5 RNA by RT-qPCR. (D) THP-1 macrophages as described in (C) were lysed for immunoblot analysis of DR5. (E) The incubation media of THP-1 macrophages without (shNS) or with DR5 silencing (shDR5) and without (mock) or with the treatment of LPS, HBsAg or HBeAg were collected and analyzed for the level of IL-1β using ELISA. In (A-C) and (E), N.S., not significant; *, p<0.05; **, p<0.01; ***, p<0.001.

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