Figure 7.
Establishment of HIV latency in the CCST mouse model
(A) CCST mice were infected (intraperitoneal route) with 200,000 TCID50 of NL4.3-ADA-GFP HIV. At 6 weeks post infection (wpi), a group of infected mice was treated for up to 6 weeks with emtricitabine (100 mg/kg weight), tenofovir (50 mg/kg), and raltegravir (68 mg/kg). The control group was represented by untreated mice.
(B) Dynamic changes in plasma viral load over the course of infection and ART. Untreated mice are depicted in purple (CCST) and yellow (BLT), ART-treated mice in blue (CCST) and red (BLT).
(C) ART-induced changes in levels of total and integrated HIV DNA in different tissues of CCST and BLT mice.
(D) HIV RNA levels in tissues of untreated or ART-treated CCST and BLT mice.
(E) Effect of ART on the frequency of CD4+ T cells in tissues expressing viral protein p24.
(F) The presence of viral rebound following antiretroviral therapy treatment interruption (ATI, blue lines), supporting the existence of HIV latency in infected CCST mice. As a result of ATI, levels of viremia were increased to the level of untreated mice (green lines). Each line represents one mouse.
The Mann-Whitney test was applied to compare ranks of two groups. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001, ∗∗∗∗p < 0.0001; ns, not significant.