Fig 2: Downregulation of UBD reversed NS3-mediated promotion of HCC proliferation and migration. a After HepG2 cells were transfected with 100 nM si-UBD or si-NC for 36 h, the expression of UBD was detected by Western blot. b Proliferation of HepG2 cells transfected with indicated plasmids was assayed by CCK-8 (***p < 0.001; n = 3). c, d Migration ability of indicated HepG2 cells was analyzed by wound healing assay, and relative migration rates were shown. Data were presented as mean ± SEM in b, d, n = 3; ***p < 0.001.

Fig 3: NS3 mediated the upregulation of UBD in HCV-infected HepG2 cells. a Heat map of the common DEGs among the four gene expression profiles (GSE82177, GSE17856, TCGA-LIHC, and GSE89377). b HepG2 cells were infected with JFH1 for 48 h. The mRNA levels of upregulated genes (a) were determined by qRT-PCR. c, d HepG2 cells were infected with JFH1 to indicate time. The mRNA and protein levels of UBD were determined by qRT-PCR and IB, respectively. e HepG2 cells were transiently transfected with indicated plasmids for 36 h and subsequently collected for Western blot against UBD and Myc-tag. f pcDNA3.1-NS3 with indicated concentration was transfected into HepG2 cells for 36 h, and the expression of UBD and p53 was analyzed by Western blot. g pcDNA3.1-p7 with indicated concentration was transfected into HepG2 cells for 36 h, and the expression of UBD was analyzed by Western blot. Data were presented as mean ± SEM in b, c, n = 3; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, or ***p < 0.001. JFH1, Japanese fulminant hepatitis 1.