Figure 5.
Breadth of the neutralizing antibody response declines after incident human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Serum samples isolated from 15 hepatitis C virus (HCV) –infected subjects before and after incident HIV infection were tested for their ability to neutralize 11 clonal heterologous genotype 1 HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp). Serum samples from 10 HCV-monoinfected control subjects at 2 longitudinal time points were used as controls. Gray lines represents number of HCVpp neutralized (neutralizing breadth) for individual subjects measured at 2 time points; black lines, medians (overlapping lines are dithered for clarity). Positive neutralization of each of the HCVpp was noted when neutralization was >25%, which was >2 standard deviations above the mean neutralization of negative control murine leukemia virus pseudoparticles by all 25 serum samples tested. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to calculate significance of the change in number of HCVpp neutralized; when normality was satisfied, paired t tests were used.