Impact of anti-<i>C</i>. <i>sinensis</i> treatment on antiviral therapies in co-infected patients.

<p>Elevated liver transaminases (including AST, ALT and TB) and HBV DNA copies in the plasma of co-infected patients were detected after receiving combination treatment ETV and PZQ or not. (A) AST and (B) ALT and (C) TB were measured in plasma. (D) HBV DNA levels were measured by RT-PCR. Symbols show individual measurements within the patient groups, and the graphs show the means ± SD. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between NONPZQ and PZQ groups, as measured by paired, two-tailed Student's t-test (*<i>p</i> <0.05, ** <i>p</i> <0.01)</p

Primer sequences for quantitative real-time PCR.

<p>Primer sequences for quantitative real-time PCR.</p

Clinical characteristics of the study cohort.

<p>Clinical characteristics of the study cohort.</p

Detection of HBV-DNA copies in PBMC culture supernatant.

<p>HBV DNA was detected by FQ-PCR in the supernatant of the PBMCs incubated with mixtures of ESP and HBV positive serum or HBV positive serum only, or ESPs only. Medium alone served as a control. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between HBV positive sera only and mixtures of HBV positive sera and ESPs, as measured by paired, two-tailed Student's t-test (** <i>p</i> <0.01).</p

mRNA levels of Th1 and Th2 cytokines secreted by stimulated PBMCs.

<p>Total RNAs from PBMCs stimulated by mixtures of ESP and HBV positive serum, HBV positive serum only, or ESPs only were extracted for reverse transcription using cytokine gene-specific primers for Th1 cytokine (A) including IL-2 and IFN-γ and Th2 cytokines (B) including IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10 and human β-actin. The relative expression of each cytokine was detected by quantitative real-time RT-PCR and normalized relative to β-actin expression. Medium only served as a control. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM (*<i>p</i> <0.05, ** <i>p</i> <0.01, *** <i>p</i> <0.001).</p