Figure 1.

(A) HIV Tat induces expression of TGF-β1 mRNA with a concomitant decrease in CFTR mRNA levels. NHBE ALI cultures re-differentiated at the air liquid interface were treated with recombinant Clade B Tat (10 nM: ^*p < 0.05) apically and basolaterally. Total RNA was isolated and TGF-β1 and CFTR mRNA levels were quantitated by qRT-PCR. HIV Tat induces almost a 1.7-fold increase in TGF-β1 mRNA expression. This translates to a significant decrease in CFTR mRNA levels. Data are mean ± SE of three experiments from three different lungs. (B) Nationwide trends in Cigarette smoking and drug abuse in general population compared with people living with HIV. While the trend in addiction is similar between the two, the proportion of people living with HIV who smoke cigarettes or abuse street drugs is significantly than that observed in the general population. Cigarette smoking is the most prevalent addiction [62.5% smokers (Benard et al., 2007; Lifson et al., 2010; Lifson and Lando, 2012) compared to 17.8% nationwide], followed by Marijuana [29% (Woolridge et al., 2005) compared to 7.5% nationwide], Cocaine [22.5% (Hinkin et al., 2004) compared to 0.6% nationwide] and methamphetamine [11% (Mitchell et al., 2006) compared to 0.2% nationwide]. The data for substance abuse in the general population is obtained from http://www.drugabuse.gov/national-survey-drug-use-health.