• 2.1 a. Viruses
• 2.2 b. Hepatitis Viruses
• 2.3 c. Hepatitis C Virus
• 2.4 d. Epidemiology
• 2.5 e. Clinical Features
• 2.6 f. HCV Replication
• 2.7 g. HCV Therapy
• 2.8 h. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
• 2.9 i. Silymarin
• 2.10 j. Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1)
• 2.11 k. Importance of the Replicons

• 7.1 a. Chemicals and Antibodies
• 7.2 b. Routine Cell Culture
• 7.3 c. Treatment and RNA Isolation
• 7.4 d. Reverse Transcription
• 7.5 e. Quantitative Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR)
• 7.6 f. Treatment and Western Blot
• 7.7 g. MTT Assay
• 7.8 h. Statistical Analysis of Data

• 8.1 a. Determination of optimum Fetal Bovine Serum concentrations for induction of HCV core, HCV NS5A and HO-1 mRNAs in CNS3 and 9-13 cells
• 8.2 b. Dose response and time course studies of mRNA levels in CNS3 cells treated with Silymarin
• 8.3 c. Silymarin down-regulates HCV core protein in CNS3 cells
• 8.4 d. Dose response and time course studies of selected mRNA levels in 9-13 cells treated with Silymarin
• 8.5 e. Silymarin up-regulates HCV NS5A protein levels in 9-13 cells 42
• 8.6 f. HO-1 mRNA induction by Silymarin in wild-type Huh7-cells 44
• 8.7 g. Dose response experiments of Silymarin and interferon on HCV core and HO-1 mRNA levels in CNS3 cells
• 8.8 h. Effects of the combined treatment of Silymarin and Interferon on HCV core mRNA in CNS3 cells
• 8.9 i. Silymarin alone or in combination with interferon has similar effects on HCV core protein levels in CNS3 cells
• 8.10 j. Effects of increasing concentrations of Silymarin and interferon on HCV NS5A and HO-1 mRNA levels in 9-13 cells at 24 and 48 h
• 8.11 k. The combination of Silymarin and interferon have the same effects on HCV NS5A mRNA levels as treatment with Silymarin alone in 9-13 cells at 24 h
• 8.12 l. Silymarin alone or in combination with interferon has similar effects on HCV NS5A protein levels in 9-13 cells
• 8.13 m. Silymarin alone or in combination with interferon up-regulates HO-1 mRNA levels in Huh-7 cells
• 8.14 n. Silymarin does not affect expression of Bach1 or Nrf2 transcription factors in wild type Huh-7, CNS3 and 9-13 cells
• 8.15 o. HCV regulation by Silymarin is not related by the Jak-Stat Pathway
• 8.16 p. Cytotoxicity of Silymarin in CNS3, 9-13 and Huh-7 cells

1. Abstract

2. Introduction

3. Overall...

4. Specific...

5. Hypothesis

6. Justification

7. Materials...

8. Results

9. Discussion

10. Conclusions

A

B

C