Enhanced HIV replication by gp120 requires NF-κB and caspase 8.

<p>(A) Primary CD4 T cells from HIV-infected patients were transfected with vector control or dominant negative IκB and treated with gp120 as indicated. P24 was measured the following day. (B) Jurkat or I9.2 cells were transfected with a luciferase reporter under the control of the HIV LTR promoter and a Renilla expressing plasmid as an internal control and cultured 18 hours with or without HIV gp120 (5 ug/ml) plus sCD4 (2.5 ug/ml) where indicated TNF was used as a positive control. The cells were harvested and the luciferase activity was measured and expressed in terms of fold increase over the control. (C) Jurkat or I9.2 cells transfected as above and treated with SDF as indicated and HIV LTR Luc measured, normalized to TK-Renilla, and expressed as fold increase over control. (D) I9.2 cells were transfected with empty vector (left) or procaspase 8 (right), stimulated with gp120 or SDF, and HIV LTR activity measured.