Figure 4
The activation of CD4+ T cells during malaria infection potentially resulted in the apoptosis of CD4+ T CM and T EM cells, leading to a reduction of the SIV reservoir. (A) Pc infection induced the co-expression of HLA-DR and CD38 in CD4+ T cells, which indicated the activation of these cells (1.97 ± 1.47% vs. 1.00 ± 0.61%). (B) A significant positive correlation was noted between the percentage of HLA-DR + CD38 + CD4+ T cells and the percentage of apoptotic CD4+ TCM cells during the malaria phase in the two groups of monkeys. (C) A positive correlation was noted between the percentage of HLA-DR + CD38 + CD4+ T cells and the percentage of apoptotic CD4+ TEM cells during the malaria phase in the two groups of monkeys. (D) A significant negative correlation was noted between the percentage of HLA-DR + CD38 + CD4+ T cells and the SIV iDNA load in PBMCs. The percentages of HLA-DR + CD38 + CD4+ T cells at different time points in the same phase and group were combined to examine the difference between the two groups; the Mann–Whitney U test was utilized, and the data are shown as the mean ± SD. Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the parameters tested in C and D.