Fig 4.

In vitro viral inhibitory activity (VIA) mediated by HIV-specific CD8⁺ T cells. VIA is expressed as the log₁₀ of the proportion of p24 antigen lost when CD8⁺ T cells were present in the culture, compared to CD4⁺ cells alone. (A) Viral inhibitory activity found in chronic, EC, and PHI subjects, against lab-adapted R5 HIV strains; (B) viral inhibitory activity in PHI individuals, reassorted into subjects with Gag immunodominance or Nef immunodominance according to preferred (>50% of total response) viral protein targeted by the immune response at baseline sample in the ELISPOT assay; (C) correlation between the magnitude of Gag-specific response in PHI subjects at baseline sample and VIA; r and P values correspond to Spearman's test; (D) PHI subjects with substantial capacity to mediate VIA (>25%) also showed higher CD4⁺ T-cell set points. In panels A, B, and D, symbols show the values for each individual subject. Within the chronic group (A), viremic controllers are denoted with black dots. Horizontal lines within boxes represent the median values. Intergroup and intragroup (PHI baseline versus year) differences were analyzed using Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests, respectively; *, P < 0.05.