FIG 8.

Effects of cholesterol depletion on virus sensitivity to neutralization. The wild-type HIV-1_AD8 (A), 2-4 RM6 AE (B), Q114E/Q567K (C), and Q114E/Q567K/A582T (D) viruses were incubated with methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MBCD) at the predetermined IC₅₀ concentration for each virus for 1 h at 37°C. Then the indicated antibodies or BNM-III-170 were added and the mixture was incubated for another hour. The mixture was added to TZM-bl target cells and 48 h later, luciferase activity was measured. For each Env variant, the results were normalized to those obtained for viruses that were not incubated with MBCD, antibodies, or BNM-III-170. The results shown are representative of those obtained in two independent experiments, expressed as means and standard deviations from triplicate luciferase readings. The significance of the difference in virus sensitivity to 10E8.v4 neutralization with and without MBCD was evaluated by a Student’s paired t test.