Correlation of the IPC number with HIV viral load and IFN-α production by PBMCs.

(A) Direct negative correlation between the blood IPC number and the HIV viral load in the plasma (correlation coefficient = −0.347;P < .05). For the convenience of the analysis, RNA levels less than 50 copies/mL were considered as 50 copies/mL. (B) Direct positive correlation of the blood IPC number with the capacity of PBMCs to produce IFN-alpha (correlation coefficient = 0.77;P < .01). Each dot represents a different study subject. Total PBMCs were cultured with HSV-1 the same day as the IPC quantification. Culture supernatants were harvested after 24 hours, frozen, and assayed later for IFN-alpha by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Comparable results were obtained by using the IFN-α bioassay (data not shown).