Effect of PQBP1 silencing on cholesteryl ester (CE)
accumulation in antiretroviral therapy (ART)-treated foam cells. THP-1
macrophages were first transfected with a pool of 3 PQBP1
siRNAs or a pool of 2 control siRNAs. Following a 24 hour pre-treatment with
either DMSO (–), nelfinavir (15 μM), saquinavir (15μM), or
ritonavir (30 μM), AcLDL (50 μg/mL) was added to the culture media
for the following 48 hours. Drug treatment was maintained throughout the
experiment. CE accumulation and PQBP1 expression levels were
measured in cell lysates. Results are shown for 3 independent experiments with 3
technical replicates (n=9) for CE accumulation measurements and 2 technical
replicates (n=6) for PQBP1 RNA level quantification. Data are
expressed as mean±SEM. NELF, nelfinavir; SAQ, saquinavir; RIT,
ritonavir.