Figure 1. Hepatitis C virus core and NS3-induced cytokine production. Human conjunctival fibroblasts were exposed to 2 ng/ml and 20 ng/ml of core, NS3, and β-galactosidase (β-Gal) proteins for 8 h. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to detect cytokines in the cell culture supernatants. A–C: Core and NS3 induced interleukin (IL)-8, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and IL-10 secretion at a significant level. Data are represented as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM) over the untreated control group. *p<0.05, ** p<0.001.