Rectal HSV-2 Infection May Increase Rectal SIV Acquisition Even in the Context of SIVΔnef Vaccination
Fig 2
Rectal HSV-2 infection impacts rectal cytokine release and immune cell phenotype in blood and LNs.
A) The concentration of CXCL8 in rectal swabs at day 7 post-HSV-2 challenge is shown for the animals that acquired HSV-2 or SIVΔNef infection (or both) compared to those that remained uninfected (Uninf). B) The concentration of CXCL8 in rectal swabs at day 7 post-HSV-2 challenge is plotted against SIV plasma VL at week 2 post-WT challenge for the animals in Round 2 with the exclusion of the SIVΔNef+ ones (plasma VL at week 2 post-WT is missing for Round 1). Spearman correlation p value is shown (significance p<0.05). C) Blood cells were gated on singlets, live and CD3+ CD4+ cells. The frequency of CCR6+ CD4+ T cells on day 7 post HSV-2 (left) and FoxP3+ CD127low CD4+ T cells on day 14 post-HSV-2 (right) is shown for the animals that acquired HSV-2 or SIVΔNef infection compared to those that remained uninfected (Uninf). D) DCs from inguinal LNs were gated on live, singlets, Lin− HLA-DR+ cells. The expression of CD80 on total LNs DCs and the frequency of α4β7+ DCs 10 days post-HSV-2 infection are shown for the animals that acquired HSV-2 or SIVΔNef infection compared to those that remained uninfected (Uninf). Bars represent mean±SEM. Significant p values from Mann-Whitney test are shown (α4<0.05).