PCR analysis
The expression levels of cellular mRNAs, HBV pgRNA, and S-mRNA were standardized using GAPDH mRNA as a reference. Total intracellular HBV DNA and cccDNA levels were normalized against genomic β-globin levels. Real-time PCR was conducted using specific primer and probe sets (listed in Table S2) on Rotor-Gene 6000 (Corbett Research) and CFX96 cycler (BioRad). Relative expression levels were determined using the ΔΔCt method.