Lastly, HCECs also displayed a similar, but much larger increase in the mRNA expression levels of both FGF2 and FGFR1 at 6 h post-infection, when the infected cells exhibited about 7.87 ± 1.0-fold increase in FGF2 and 6.83 ± 0.6-fold increase in FGFR1 mRNA levels as compared to the mock controls (p ≤ 0.01) (Figure 2C). This evidence concerns the gene FGF2 and infection.