Fig 8.

Viral load correlates with increased mDC antigen uptake. (A) Representative dot plot for antigen uptake functional assay. (Left) PBMCs incubated with FITC-coupled dextran beads at 4°C (baseline spontaneous uptake); (right) PBMCs incubated at 37°C (specific uptake). (B) Change in MFI dextran-positive mDCs in patients with HCV chronic evolution, patients with HCV spontaneous resolution, healthy donors, and HCV-negative IDUs (background uptake was subtracted from specific uptake). The mean is represented by a horizontal bar. Two-way ANOVA (repeated measures) or one-way ANOVA (comparison with healthy donors and HCV-negative IDUs). (C) Spearman correlation between viral load and change in MFI of dextran-positive mDCs in patients with HCV chronic evolution and HCV spontaneous resolution during the early acute, late acute, and follow-up phases. Plasma viral load was measured by an in-house qRT-PCR. Dashed line, correlation with patients who have detectable HCV RNA only (>100 IU/ml); solid line, correlation with all patients.