Fig. 1

Ingenol dibenzoate reverses latency ex vivo and induces pro-inflammatory cytokine release. Ingenol-3,20-dibenzoate (ingenol DB) induced viral release from resting CD4⁺ T cells isolated from aviremic HIV-1 positive donors (n = 7; a) into culture supernatant to levels similar to positive control (T cell receptor stimulation via CD3 and CD28 antibodies, P value = 0.84) and significantly above the media alone condition (negative control; P value = 0.04). Ingenol B induced viral release in a minority of donor cultures and did not differ significantly from negative control (P value = 0.31). Despite differences in latency reversal, concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNFα, IFNγ, IL-1β and IL-6 were significantly elevated by both ingenol DB and ingenol B compared to negative control at 72 h in the supernatant of PBMCs from the same participants (b). Mean values and standard deviation are shown. Pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations were significantly elevated in positive control cultures to levels similar to both ingenol conditions. *P value <0.05; **P value <0.01