Figure 4

Antiviral activity in NHP cervical tissue. Proximal (cervical; A) and distal (introitus; B) biopsies collected at Day 0 (baseline) and 7 and 14 days post-insertion of IVR were minced and co-cultured with PHA-activated human PBMC (1x10⁵ cells/well) in triplicate wells of round-bottomed 96-well plates within 24 h of collection in the presence of culture medium used during shipment. Co-cultures were incubated at 37°C for 72 h prior to challenge with HIV-1_Ba-L (approximately 10³ TCID₅₀). The inoculum was removed and co-cultured tissue and cells washed thrice with serum-free medium and incubated for 7–10 days at 37°C. Four animals were exposed to IVRs loaded with 10% (w/w) IQP-0528 (squares) and two animals received placebo IVRs (circles). HIV replication was assessed by measuring p24 levels by ELISA. Data are presented as the percent inhibition relative to control cells challenged in the absence of tissue co-culture and are means obtained from one experiment where each condition was tested in triplicate; the line indicates the mean for the group.