TGF-β–mediated transcriptional responses are suppressed by Tax.

p3TP-Lux, p800neoLuc, or p15P113-Luc was cotransfected into HepG2 or Mv1Lu cells together with either pH2Rneo (■, −Tax) or pH2R40M (▪, +Tax). Cells were incubated for 24 hours in the presence or absence of 10 ng/mL TGF-β. Relative luciferase activities were measured in cell extracts, normalized to the renilla luciferase activity. Luciferase activity is presented as fold induction relative to the basal level measured in cells transfected with the reporter plasmid alone without further treatment. Data represent the mean ± SD from 3 separate experiments.