Figure 7. Gleevec inhibits both HCMV and HSV immediate early protein expression.

Normal ARPE-19 cells were treated with various concentrations of Gleevec for 1 hr at 37°C then incubated with: A) HCMV TR using 10 IU/cell or B) HSV-1 using 10 PFU/cell in the presence of Gleevec for 4 hr at 37°C. The cells were washed to remove the virus inoculum then incubated for an additional 24 hr in growth media containing the same concentration of Gleevec. HCMV-infected cells were stained for IE-86 and HSV-infected cells were stained for immediate early protein ICP4. The percent infected cells was calculated by determining the percent IE-86+ or ICP4+ cells and comparing to the number of IE-86+ or ICP4+ cells observed when a different set of cells were treated with Gleevec after the virus inoculum was removed (at 4 hr post-infection). The numbers represent the average from at least three separate fields. Error bars represent the standard deviation.