Fig. 3. Crm1 levels were transiently increased to facilitate rapid nuclear p53 exclusion in HCMV-infected HUVECs. Western blot analysis (top) and graph of relative protein levels (bottom) showing a significant increase in p53 levels. Crm1 protein levels were slightly decreased when p53 was stabilized in the nucleus during the first 3 dpi. A transient increase in Crm1 levels from 4-7 dpi coincided with the nuclear p53 exclusion. This increase was followed by a decrease with the time of infection to lower levels than before infection. The reduction in Crm1 levels occurred at the same time as p53 was sequestrated in the cytoplasm, which is indicated by the broken bar at the bottom of the graph. The experiments were carried out in triplicate using three different batches of HCMV-infected HUVECs (MOI=1.0).