FIG 4.

SERINC5 also sensitizes HIV-1 ΔNef particles for increased production of proinflammatory cytokines by immature monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDCs). (A) Schematic of experimental flow. Immature dendritic cells were differentiated from monocytes by GM-CSF and IL-4 for 6 days. The cells were then transduced with VLPs+Vpx, infected 2 days later (duplicate infections per donor), and analyzed for productive infection (B) or cytokine production from the cell culture supernatant (D) 4 or 2 days p.i., respectively. Shown are data points from cells of individual donors (mean of duplicate infections), with the mean of all donors indicated by a black line. (B) Relative intracellular p24 levels as analyzed by flow cytometry (with ΔNef set as 100% and the percentage of p24⁺ cells ranging from 2% to 9% between donors). NI, noninfected. (C) Cytokine production of MDDCs infected with HIV-1 ΔNef+S5 particles normalized to ΔNef. Data are displayed as log₂ fold change, with red, black, and blue, respectively, indicating upregulated, unaltered, or reduced cytokine production. (D to G) Quantification of cytokine production (IL-6 in panel D and TNF-α in panel F) relative to HIV-1 ΔNef-infected cultures (set to 1). Shown are data points from cells of individual donors, with the mean indicated by a black line. Also shown is Pearson’s correlation between the ratio of infectivity of ΔNef to ΔNef+S5 and the induction of cytokine production by HIV-1 ΔNef+S5 particles (E and G). Statistics (Student's t test): n.s., nonsignificant; *, P < 0.05.