Theaflavins inhibit cell-to-cell spread.

Huh-7 cells were inoculated with HCV JFH-1 for 2 h. Inoculum was replaced by medium containing mAb 3/11 neutralizing antibody to prevent extracellular propagation. Theaflavins at 25 μg/ml or EGCG at 50 μM were added in the medium after inoculation. Cells were fixed 72 h after infection and subjected to immunofluorescence detection of E1 HCV envelope protein revealed with a Cy3-conjugated goat anti-mouse secondary antibody (red). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Representative images of each condition are shown. Graph represents the number of cells/focus of 3 independent fields of three independent wells. Error bars represent SD. Data are representative of 3 independent experiments. Statistical analysis were performed with the Kruskal Wallis nonparametric test followed by a Dunn’s multicomparison post hoc test. **, P = 0.009; ***, P < 0.0001.