FIG. 6.
Treatment with Murabutide suppresses plasma viral loads and viral DNA levels in HIV-1-infected hu-PBL-SCID mice. Two weeks after repopulating SCID mice with hu-PBL, HIV-1Ba-L was administered intraperitoneally at a dose equivalent to 50 kcpm of viral RT activity. Starting 2 h after infection and for the following 13 days, groups of mice were treated daily with Murabutide (10 mg/kg of body weight) or with the excipient (PBS) by injecting a volume of 400 μl intraperitoneally. (A) Viral loads were quantified in plasma samples 24 h after the last administration by using Amplicor Monitor HIV-1 kits. (B) The levels of human IgG (B) in the same samples were evaluated by ELISA. Results are values for individual mice (four to six per group) from six independent experiments and are represented by a different symbol for each experiment. Horizontal bars reflect the median values of pooled data from all experiments. (C) Peritoneal cells from PBS- or Murabutide-treated mice were collected 24 h after the last injection, and an equivalent number of cells were pooled from all mice in each group. Total DNA was extracted, and various concentrations (2, 10, 50, and 250 ng) were subjected to PCR amplification with primer pair GAG06-GAG04 to detect the HIV-1 gag gene. Cell equivalence was determined by amplification of the human β-globin housekeeping gene, and DNA extracts from 8E5 cells were used as PCR standards. Since the 8E5 cells contain one integrated provirus copy per cell, the limit of detection of our PCR was 40 copies (or 40 cells) in 0.26 ng of human DNA. Results are representative of four experiments.