HCV capsid protein and ion-channel p7, but not envelope proteins (E1 and E2) activate NLRP3 inflammasome signaling.

(A) IL-1β ELISA (top panel) in U2OS cells reconstituted with NLRP3 inflammasome components. Human proIL-1β, procasp1, ASC and NLRP3 were co-transfected with constructs expressing vector only or HCV core or HCV-p7 or HCV-E1E2. Lower panel of (A) is a western blot depicting the expression of each transfected constructs including the loading control, actin. (B) Relative luciferase activity measured in hepatoma Huh7 cells post infection with HCVpp (upper panel). Lower panel (B), IL-1β ELISA in THP-1 cells stimulated with (HCVpp) or VSVpp. Experiments were performed with replicates and are representative of at least two independent experiments. Data are presented as means +/- SD. *P<0.05, ***P<0.001 and ns = non-significant.