Table 1 Immunological and virological parameters of macaques at day 0 of the experiment. At the onset of the experiment, the six male cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) were chronically infected by 4 AID ₅₀ of a primary and pathogenic isolate of SIVmac251 for more than one year. They have been characterized for their mean number of circulating CD4+ T-lymphocytes, the time after SIV inoculation, and the cellular and plasma SIV viral loads. IFN group is represented by the three macaques that received their own cells transduced by the biologically active construct of IFN-β gene whereas the control group is represented by the three macaques that received their own cells transduced by the control construct. a: Immunophenotyping of Ficoll-purified PBMCs was performed by immunostaining with specific anti-CD4 and anti-CD8 antibodies, and analyzing by flow cytometry. The mean number of circulating CD4+ T-lymphocytes was determined at day 0 post first infusion with five points preceeding the onset of the experiment. b: Cellular viral load was estimated by a quantitative limit dilution nested PCR method allowing specific double amplification of a gagfragment of SIVmac251. Number of proviral copies was estimated by the last dilution that can display, in an agarose gel, a signal amplification. The number of SIVmac251 gag gene copies per 1 mg of DNA, for instance 131300 cells, was then brought back to a number of gene copies per 10⁶ cells. c Plasma SIV viral load was determined by the branched-DNA method.

From: Low autocrine interferon beta production as a gene therapy approach for AIDS: Infusion of interferon beta-engineered lymphocytes in macaques chronically infected with SIVmac251