Fig. 2
Cocaine enhances HIV-1 trans-infection mediated by EVs derived from DCs and macrophages. A–C Total RNA was isolated from EVs derived from HIV-1 infected, cocaine treated or untreated T-cells, DCs and macrophages. Expression of HIV-1 genes GAG (top panel) and RRE (lower panel) was analyzed by qRT–PCR. D–E EVs derived from HIV-1 infected, cocaine treated or untreated DCs (DCEV) and macrophages (MEV) were incubated with uninfected T-cells and the cell supernatant was analyzed for HIV-1 p24 titer on day 1, day 3 and day 7 after incubation by ELISA. Data represent the mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments, and p-values were calculated relative to untreated controls (*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p < 0.001)