Fig. 3
From: The USP18 cysteine protease promotes HBV production independent of its protease activity
Over-expression of USP18 in HepAD38 cells did not affect expression of HBV proteins. HepAD38 cells were transfected with the 4 μg WT-USP18, 4 μg USP18-C64S or 4 μg MOCK, respectively. Forty-eight hours later, culture medium was collected to quantify HBsAg (a) and HBeAg (b) expression level by ELISA assay. Intracellular HBcAgwas detected by western blot (c, left) and (c, right) analyzed by densitometry analysis. WT-USP18, wide type USP18; MOCK, empty plasmid. Results are presented as means ± SD (n ≥ 3)