Skip to main content
. 2015 Aug 13;10(8):e0135633. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135633

Fig 1. HIV-1 Vpr time-dependently induces IL-6 and IL-8 in astrocytes.

Fig 1

SVGA astrocytes were seeded in 6 well plates and transfected with a plasmid encoding HIV-1 Vpr or were mock-transfected. The cells were harvested at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72h post-transfection followed by the determination of IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA expression levels using real-time RT-PCR. The cell culture supernatants were also collected at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72h post-transfection, and protein concentration of IL-6 and IL-8 was determined using BioPlex multi-cytokine assay. (A, C) mRNA expression levels of IL-6 and IL-8 calculated relative to mock-transfected controls, respectively. (B, D) protein concentration for secreted IL-6 and IL-8 in cell culture supernatants, respectively. (E) Expression of Vpr in SVGA astrocytes using western blotting. (F) Expression of GFP-Vpr in SVGA and primary astrocytes using fluorescent microscopy. (G, H) dose-dependent induction of IL-6 and IL-8 by HIV-1 Vpr plasmid in SVGA astrocytes. (I, J) depicts the mRNA expression levels, while (K, L) shows the secreted protein levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in human fetal astrocytes by HIV-1 Vpr electroporation, respectively. Every bar represents the mean ± SE of three independent experiments done in triplicates. Statistical analyses were performed using 1-way ANOVA using post-hoc Tukey HSD test, ** p < 0.01 and * p < 0.05.