Apoptosis and expression of 2OAS-1, RIG-1, TLR3, and TLR7 mRNAs in livers of HCV-infected chimpanzees.

(A), Course of infection in chimpanzees during acute HCV infection. Serum HCV RNA levels are represented as a line graph; serum ALT levels are indicated as grey shading; seropositivity for anti-HCV IgG is represented by the bar. (B), Serum caspase 3/7 activity (red line) and CK-18 levels (blue line) (C), Hepatic expression of caspase 3 (blue line) and 7 (red line) mRNAs (D), Levels of Caspase 8 (red line), Caspase 9 (green line), Caspase 10 (blue line), and APAF-1 (purple line) mRNAs in liver (E), Levels of TNFα (red line) and perforin (blue lines) mRNAs (F), Levels of 2OAS-1 (blue line), RIG-I (red line), TLR3 (green line), and TLR7 (purple line) mRNAs in liver. Each gene’s mRNA level was normalized to an endogenous reference gene and expressed as an increase over baseline liver tissue levels.