Figure 6.

TFR reduction of HIV replication and TFH viability is IL-2 concentration dependent. TFH were spinoculated with CXCR4-tropic HIV, labeled with VPD, and cultured at a 1:1 ratio with unlabeled, uninfected TFH (Control) or TFR for 5 days with 5 μM saquinavir in the absence or presence of 10, 30, or 100 IU/ml IL-2. Percentages of GFP⁺VPD⁺TFH (A), GFP MFI (B), total VPD⁺TFH cell counts (C) GFP⁺VPD⁺TFH cell counts (D), and TFR cell counts (E) were quantified via flow cytometry using absolute counting beads and the gating strategy in Figure 1 (n=14). (F) IL-2 concentrations from 12 of the TFH coculture supernatants were quantified by ELISA. Statistical analyses were performed using 2-way ANOVA and Sidak’s multiple comparisons tests (A-D, F), and Friedman and Dunn’s multiple comparison test (E) using Graphpad Prism v8 and significance as indicated: (ns) not significant p>0.05; *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001; ****p<0.0001.