FIG. 4.

HIV-1 PI pretreatment blocks the LPS-induced TNF-α release in HMEC. HMEC were pretreated for 1 h with nelfinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, or indinavir at concentrations that have been shown to block NF-κB activation and then stimulated with LPS (50 ng/ml) for 5 h. The supernatants were collected and frozen until TNF-α levels were determined in batches by using ELISA. The data shown are the means ± SD for three or more independent experiments. *, P < 0.05.