<p>(A): IFNα and IFNβ mRNA levels in isolated BDCA1<sup>+</sup> cDCs from HIV-negative persons (Neg), individuals with chronic progressive HIV-1 infection (CP), Elite controllers (EC) and HAART-treated HIV-1 patients (HAART) at 24 and 48 hours after exposure to HIV-1 (HIV) or to media only (Med) as negative control. Horizontal lines represent the median for each specific cohort and experimental condition. (B): Mean Fluorescence Intensity (MFI) reflecting surface expression of CD86, CD83 and CD40 in cDCs from the different study cohorts at 24 hours after infection with HIV-1 (HIV) or after exposure to poly(I:C) (PIC). MFI values are expressed as fold-changes in comparison to baseline levels. Intra-individual differences were tested for statistical significance using Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank tests (above each cohort), differences between cohorts were tested using a Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc Dunn’s test; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p< 0.0001. Horizontal lines represent the median for each specific cohort and experimental condition. (C): Heatmaps reflecting gene expression patterns of 28 interferon-stimulated genes (ISG) in cDCs from Neg (n = 6), CP (n = 6) and EC (n = 6) at 48 hours after infection with HIV-1. (D): Heatmaps reflecting correlations among gene expression intensities of all 28 ISGs in indicated study cohorts. Color-coding reflects Pearson’s correlation coefficient indicating strengths of statistical association between expression intensities of given gene pairs.</p
