Fig. 2

Effect of HBV/HBs/HBc/HBp/HBx on pro-inflammatory cytokines, miR-328-3p expression, STAT3 phosphorylation, and FOXO4 protein expression. THLE-2 cells were transfected with pHBV1.3 (HBV replication plasmid), pHBs (expressing HBsAg), pHBc (expressing HBcAg), pHBp (expressing DNA polymerase protein), pHBx (expressing HBx), and empty pcDNA3.1 vector (control), under LPS stimulation (1 μg/mL, 24 h). a ELISA was performed to detect levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, and IL-18. b qRT-PCR was conducted to examine miR-328-3p expression. c Western blot was performed to measure protein expression of FOXO4 and STAT3, and phosphorylated (p)-STAT3. Values are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 3). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. NC. ^#P < 0.05, ^##P < 0.01 vs. LPS + vector