• BRIEF REPORTS • Effect of hepatitis C virus nonstructural protein NS3 on proliferation and MAPK phosphorylation of normal hepatocyte line

AIM: To study the effect of hepatitis C virus nonstructural region 3 (HCV NS3) protein on proliferation and transformation of normal human liver cell line. METHODS: QSG7701 cells were transfected with pRcHCNS3-5’, pRcHCNS3-3 ’ and pRcCMV using lipofectamine transfecting technique and selected with G418 method. Expression of HCV NS3 protein was determined by immunohistochemistry. Biologic characteristics of transfected cells were evaluated by population doubling time and soft agar assays. Activation of MAPK was analyzed using Western blot with phosphospecific monoclonal antibody against dually phosphorylated MAPK. RESULTS: QSG7701 cells transfected with pRcHCNS3-5’ showed strong intracellular expression of HCVNS3 protein