HIV-1 Nef Impairs Key Functional Activities in Human Macrophages through CD36 Downregulation
Figure 8
Recombinant Nef reduces oxLDL uptake in MDMs.
PBMCs were cultivated in HEMA condition w/o EPO for three days followed by additional three days in presence of 50 ng/mL rNef/myr. Cells were then incubated with 25 μg/mL of DiI-nLDL or DiI-oxLDL in delipidized serum for different time (15, 30 and 60 min). (A) Representative histograms of fluorescent lipids uptake by Nef-treated (solid grey histogram) compared to untreated (solid line) cells evaluated by flow cytometry. Cells w/o DiI-conjugated lipids (dotted line) were used as control for autofluorescent signal. (B) The MFI of Nef-treated (Nef) compared to untreated (Ctr) cells at 60 min from the DiI-conjugated lipids addition were reported in the histogram. SYTOX Blue was used to exclude dead cells. The results (mean ± standard deviation) are representative of three independent experiments (*p<0.05).