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Figure 2 | Retrovirology

Figure 2

From: Efficient BST2 antagonism by Vpu is critical for early HIV-1 dissemination in humanized mice

Figure 2

Impact of Vpu-sufficiency and -deficiency on the dynamic of HIV-1 infection in hu-mice infected with low dose of virus. (A) Kinetics of plasma viral load was measured by determining RNA copy numbers/ml (log10 values) in plasma at different time following infection of hu-mice with low dose of HIV-1-WT or HIV-1-∆Vpu (n = 4 up to 10-wpi and n = 2 after 10-wpi for HIV-1-WT, and n = 4 for HIV-1-∆Vpu at all time points); the horizontal broken line indicates the detection limit of the viral load assay (40 copies/ml). Viral load for mock-infected animals was less than log10 value of 2. (B and C) T cells in spleen of low dose infected hu-mice were stained at 8 to 10-wpi with a combination of antibodies to identify infected and uninfected CD4+ T cells. (B) Comparison of average frequency of p24+ T cells in spleen of hu-mice infected with HIV-1-WT and HIV-1-∆Vpu (data pooled from 2 independent experiments; n ≥ 5). (C) To determine the impact of Vpu on surface BST2 levels, infected (p24+CD3+CD8-) or uninfected (p24-CD3+CD8-) T cells were gated (first column) and BST2 and CD4 expression was analyzed by two-color dot plots (CD4 versus BST2 (second column) as well as by single color histograms (third and fourth columns). Numbers in the first column represent frequency of p24+ T cells, and numbers in the upper and bottom left quadrants of dot plots represent BST2+CD4- and BST2-CD4- frequency in p24+ T cells. (D) Comparison of relative levels of BST2 on uninfected (p24-) and infected (p24+) T cells from spleen of hu-mice infected with the indicated HIV-1 virus (MFI on p24- T cells = 100%; n ≥ 5;). (E) Bar graph for relative CD4 down regulation on p24+ T cells from hu-mice infected with the indicated HIV-1 virus relative to p24- cells (MFI on p24- T cells = 100%). (F) IFN levels were determined at 8-wpi and 16-wpi in plasma of hu-mice infected with WT or ∆Vpu HIV-1 (for 8-wpi n = 4 for both groups and for 16-wpi n = 2 for WT and n = 4 for ∆Vpu). Error bars represent SD; *, p ≤ 0.05; **, p = 0.002; ***, p ≤ 0.0005. N.S.: not significant.

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