Effects of HCV core protein on the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha and vascular endothelial growth factor

Abstract

To investigate the effect of core protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) on the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Huh7.5.1 cells were transfected with plasmid flag2B-core carrying HCV core gene, expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF were measured by reverse transcription-polymorphism chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot. Enzyme link immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) were used to detect the level of VEGF in the supernatants. The expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF mRNA and protein were upregulated after flag2B-core was transfected into Huh7.5.1 cells, and VEGF level in the supernatant was significant elevated as compared to controls [(654.5+/-43.7) pg/ml vs (365.9+/-26.8) pg/ml, t = 653.1%, P less than 0.01]. The expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF mRNA and protein were downregulated after flag2B-core and HIF-1alpha siRNA were co-transfected into Huh7.5.1 cells, and VEGF level in the supernatant was significantly reduced as compared to controls [(389.2+/-29.6) pg/ml vs (768.8+/-47.3)pg/ml, t = 1330.22, P less than 0.01]. HCV core protein enhances the expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF. HCV may regulate the expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF via the core protein.