Fig 4. (a) Retained endocytosis ability of mo-DCs post LPS-stimulation. The fold change in the uptake of FITC-dextran as a measure of endocytosis was calculated in mo-DCs post-LPS stimulation (500ng/ml) for 2 days by flowcytometry in 23 ART-naive patients in advanced stage of disease; 33 patients in early stage, 36 patients on ART and 24 healthy controls.

The mo-DCs from patients in advanced stage depict immature phenotype of mo-DC post-LPS stimulation as indicated by retained endocytosis of antigen even after maturation stimulus as compared to HCs although no significant differences were observed among various study groups. (b) Allo-stimulation of healthy lymphocytes by mo-DCs of various patient groups. The ability of mo-DCs to induce lymphocyte proliferation was evaluated by CFSE dye dilution method in ART-naive patients in advanced stage of disease (n = 9) and early stage of disease (n = 5) and the stimulation index was compared with patients on ART with CD4+ T-cell counts>350 cells/μL (n = 9). Mo-DCs of patients in advanced stage of HIV disease had significantly lower SI as compared to HCs (p<0.05). Data are represented as mean ± SD. *, P<0.05.