Fig. 4

Lut inhibits the expression of HNF4α and HBV replication through activating MAPK/ERK pathway. HepG2.2.15 cells were treated with indicated compounds for 24 h. Then the supernatant was collected to detect the levels of HBeAg (A). HepG2.2.15 cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of Lut for 48 h. Cell death was measured by CellTiter-Glo luminescent assay (B). HepG2.2.15 cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of Lut for 24 or 48 h. then the supernatant was collected for the determination of HBeAg, HBsAg, HBV DNA (C–E). HepG2.2.15 cells were treated with Lut (5, 10, 20 and 40 μM) for 6 h, the mRNA was acquired for the measurement of HNF4α (F) by qRT-PCR. HepG2.2.15 cells were incubated with Lut (5, 10, 20 and 40 μM) for 24 h, and the blot intensity of p-ERK1/2 (G) was analyzed through Western blot. The data are presented as mean ± SEM from triplicates, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, NS: not significant (one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s post-hoc test)