Fig. 7: CCR5AS expression levels associate with susceptibility to CCR5-dependent HIV infection.

a, Peripheral blood CD4⁺ T cells from eight unrelated HIV-negative donors, all with the rs1015164AG genotype, were transfected with siCon1 or siLnc1. Twenty-four hours posttransfection, the cells were infected with either VSV-G pseudotyped HIV encoding GFP or a CCR5-tropic HIV encoding GFP, and percent GFP-expressing cells was measured after 96 h. Fold change in percent HIV⁺ cells was calculated as a ratio of HIV⁺ cells in siLnc1-transfected cells versus HIV⁺ cells in siCon1-transfected cells. The siRNA-mediated silencing of CCR5AS led to 25–50% reduction in the proportion of GFP⁺ T cells in the cultures infected with the CCR5-tropic virus, but the downregulation of CCR5AS did not affect the proportion of GFP⁺ cells in the cultures infected with VSV-G pseudotyped vector. The means ± s.e.m. are depicted as horizontal and vertical bars for each group. Statistical significance was determined using nonparametric t-test, and the two-tailed P value is indicated. Each dot represents one donor (n = 8 for each viral infection). b, Peripheral blood CD4⁺ T cells from 55 unrelated HIV-negative donors grouped according to rs1015164 genotype (AA = 5, AG = 19, GG = 31) were infected with either VSV-G pseudotyped HIV encoding GFP or a CCR5-tropic HIV encoding GFP, and percent GFP-expressing cells was measured after 96 h. The means ± s.e.m. are depicted as horizontal and vertical bars for each group. Statistical significance was determined using a nonparametric t-test, and the two-tailed P value is indicated. Each dot represents one donor (n = 55 for each viral infection), and red dots represent donors with the rs1015164AA genotype.