BCL2 and infection: We were also able to detect Bcl-2 gene expression in HepG2 cells starting from day 1 post-infection until the end of the experiment, whereas the expression of Bcl-xL was not visible until day 28 when it started to be expressed and its expression was closely associated with the presence of HCV in tumor cells (Table 3) suggesting that Bcl-2 is tumor related whereas Bcl-xL is a viral related.