Impact of HBV infection on TGF-β signaling in primary human hepatocytes

TGF-β is a profibrotic cytokine playing a pivotal role in cell signaling in liver. Chronical HBV infection leads to fibrosis and often ends in HCC. As TGF-β is frequently upregulated in HBV-infected patients, it is important to elucidate its role in the course of HBV infection. Primary human hepatocytes from 3 donors were infected with HBV. Replication of HBV in infected cells was investigated by HBsAg values in the supernatant. Infection efficiency was about 100% as investigated by IF staining against HBV core protein. Cells were cultured for 7 days until TGF-β treatment for 1 or 24hrs, respectively. cRNA was h…