Saponin inhibits HCV replication in Huh7 cells harboring subgenomic HCV replicon.

<p>(A) HCV protein expressions were decreased by saponin. Both IFN-cured and subgenomic replicon cells were either left untreated or treated with 25 and 50 µg/ml of saponin, respectively. At 24 h after saponin treatment, total cell lysates were immunoblotted with the indicated antibodies. β-actin was used as a loading control for the same amount of cell lysates. (B) Total cellular RNAs were extracted from HCV replicon cells treated with saponin and intracellular HCV RNAs were quantified by qRT-PCR. (C) Subgenomic replicon cells were left untreated or treated with 25 and 50 µg/ml of saponin, respectively. At 24 h after saponin treatment, cell viability was determined by cytotoxicity assay.