Figure 5: F49A-FTP kills experimentally latently infected CD34+ progenitor cells, reducing HCMV reactivation events.
From: Targeting the latent cytomegalovirus reservoir with an antiviral fusion toxin protein
CD34+ progenitor cells were experimentally infected with SV40-GFP-TB40E at an MOI of 5 that led to a mean average of 8.5% of cells latently infected. After 24 h, F49A-FTP was added to CD34+ cell cultures and incubated for 72 h. Changes in the number of GFP-positive latent cells were analysed by fluorescence microscopy and compared with a mock-treated control that was set at 100% (a). These CD34+ cells were then differentiated to mature dendritic cells and changes in the percentage of GFP-positive mature dendritic cells were measured (b). Finally, the cells shown in b were co-cultured with fibroblasts for 2 weeks and the number of IE foci were counted (c). Means and error bars (showing s.d.) were generated from three independent experiments. Statistical analyses were carried out using a paired two-tailed t-test and P values expressed as *P=0.05, **P=0.01 or ***P=0.001.
