Figure 2From: Trans-activation, post-transcriptional maturation, and induction of antibodies to HERV-K (HML-2) envelope transmembrane protein in HIV-1 infectionHumoral response against HERV-K Env TM and SU. The detection of antibodies was performed for 40 seronegative low risk healthy donors (HIVneg) and 80 chronic HIV-1 subjects (HIVpos), 40 elite controllers (EC) and 40 viremic-non-controllers (VNC). Dashed bar represents the threshold detection (1:200 dilution). Sera with a negative signal at 1:200 dilution were considered negative, and plotted below the dashed bar. A) HIVneg or HIVpos showed no difference for the anti-SU response, with a mean titer of 180 and 190, respectively. B) HIVpos showed an increase of anti-TM antibody compared to HIVneg, with a mean titer of 1350 and 450, respectively. C) Plots represent the two antibody responses (SU and TM) for one HIVpos patient. Detection was done on the same plate with sera diluted at 1:200 and 1:400 for SU and TM, respectively, n = 80. (D) VNC had the highest anti-TM titer (1600) compared to HIVneg (450) and EC (1100). EC had a significant higher anti-TM titer compared to HIVneg. E and F) Comparison of the anti-SU (E), or the anti-TM (F), titers between HIVpos patients on or off HAART. On HAART n = 40; Off HAART n = 80. Detection of anti-SU antibodies. ODs were normalized with serum from a high responder. The STDEV intra experiment was less than 7%. Detection of anti-TM antibodies. Sera were used at 1:400. OD were normalized with serum from a high responder. The STDEV intra experiment was less than 4%. The statistical significance of between the different groups was established using the Mann Whitney T test for A, B, E and F, and a Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s Multiple Comparison Test for D. The figure shows the representative results of three independent experiments. A p value <0.05 was considered as significant. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.Back to article page