Expression of human F3 in HCV+F1 and HCV+F2 mouse tissues. RNA was isolated from different tissues of a male (I) and a female (II) HCV+ F1 or HCV+ F2 mouse and brain of a normal control mouse. RT-PCR assays were developed detecting specifically human or mouse F3 mRNA. Equal amounts of cDNA were used for 30 cycles of PCR with the human F3primers (hTF panels) or with the mouse F3 primers (mTF panels). A human fetal brain control is shown in laneC1 , lane C2 shows a normal mouse brain control. (A) RT-PCR experiments with cDNA derived from tissues of transchromosomal F1 and F2 mice. B, brain; k, kidney; l, liver; I, intestine; m, muscle; n, negative control. (B) Western blot with 25 μg of total kidney proteins extracted from human kidney (hu), kidneys of four transchromosomal mice (lanes F1 I, F1 II, F2 I, and F2 II, respectively) and a normal mouse (m), stained with rabbit antihuman F3. (C) Immunostaining with rabbit anti human F3 of kidney from an HCV+ F1 mouse and an HCV− littermate as a control shows positivity of the epithelia of the glomerulus, a typical human expression pattern only in the HCV+ kidney. Thelower panel shows a human control kidney.
