Perforin Expression Directly Ex Vivo by HIV-Specific CD8+ T-Cells Is a Correlate of HIV Elite Control
Figure 5
Inverse relationship between viral load and HIV-specific perforin expression, which is not rescued by HAART.
(A) The average proportion of HIV-specific perforin expression within each subject was plotted against the HIV viral load from each respective subject. The most proximal viral load measurement to the time point of the PBMC sample was used in the analysis. Spearman correlation tests (nonparametric; two-tailed) were performed to determine statistical significance. (B) The relative contribution of perforin to the Gag-, Pol-, and Nef-specific CD8+ T-cell responses is shown for all EC, CP, VNP, and HAART-suppressed subjects. Each symbol represents an individual study subject. One-way ANOVA tests (nonparametric; Kruskal-Wallis test) were performed followed by a Dunns test for multiple comparisons. * denotes a p value <0.05, ** denotes a p value <0.01, and *** denotes a p value <0.001. The error bars represent the mean and standard deviation.