Pseudotyped HIV-1 infects epithelial cells derived from vagina.

<p>Immunofluorescence analysis of HIV-1 infection in VK-2. VK-2 cells were infected with progeny virus from primary CD4+ T cells or CEMX174 and were stained for HIV-1 Gag expression 5 days post-infection. The input virus used to infect producer T cells are as indicated. An enlarged view of epithelial cells exposed to progeny virus from HIV-1/XMRV co-infected CEMX174 cells is shown (second panel). HIV-1 Gag expression is indicated by green fluorescence (FITC); green fluorescence merged to the corresponding bright field image is shown in the bottom panels. B. Target epithelial cells were exposed to progeny viruses in the presence or absence of AZT as indicated on the panels. Data shown are representative of six independent experiments. Bar = 10 µm. <b>C</b> and <b>D</b>, HIV-1 and XMRV viral RNA in the supernatants of the same infected VK-2 cells as in (A) and (B) were quantified by qRT-PCR. The viruses used to infect producer cells are shown on the X axis. The data shown represent the mean ± standard deviation from three independent experiments.