HIV-1 infected viremic controllers possess preferential Gag-specific CD8 T cell responses despite heightened CD8 T Cell activation.

(A) Composite graph of the percentage of CD38 and HLA-DR activation on CD8⁺ T cells from HIV-1 infected and uninfected subjects. (B) Spearman correlation of the percentage of activated CD8⁺ T cells expressing CD38 and HLA-DR (y-axis) with viral load (x-axis) in all HIV-1 infected subjects. (C) The HIV-1 specific CD8⁺ T cell response (IFN-gamma production and/or CD107a degranulation) to Gag and Pol peptide pools is shown for a representative HIV-1 infected viremic controller subject. (D–E) Composite graph showing the HIV-1 specific CD8⁺ T cell response to Gag and Pol in (D) HIV-1 infected viremic controllers and (E) chronically-infected non-controllers. (F–G) Spearman correlation of the HIV-1 specific CD8⁺ T cell response to a (F) Pol peptide pool or (G) represented as a Gag/Pol ratio with viral load in all HIV-1 infected subjects. All graphic presentations are displayed as median with interquartile range. Comparisons between two groups were performed using a Wilcoxon matched pairs, non-parametric T test while comparisons between three groups were performed using an unpaired, non-parametric Kruskal-Wallace ANOVA with a Dunn post-test. Correlations between two variables were carried out using a non-parametric Spearman test and dotted line signifies viral load cutoff for viremic controllers (2000 copies/ml or 3.3 Log) In all cases, p-values were two-tailed with a 95% confidence interval and alphas of p<0.05, p<0.01, and p<0.001 are denoted with a single, double or triple asterisk, respectively.