Antiretroviral therapy reduces viral uptake by platelets in persons with HIV. (A) Platelets were isolated from the plasma of viremic cART-naive individuals, RNAscope probing was done for the HIV gag gene (green), followed by immunostaining for CD61 as a platelet marker (red). Images were taken using a confocal microscope (60× objective). Results are representative of 2 donors. Platelets isolated from an HIV⁻ individual were used as a negative staining control (lower panels). (B) Isolated platelets were immunostained for viral glycoprotein gp120, in addition to CD61, and imaged using super resolution microscopy. (C) Platelets were imaged using ImageStream flow cytometry and gated using CD61 and gp120. (D) The percentage of gp120⁺ platelets was determined prior to cART and 3 months following cART in 10 matching samples. Significance between groups was calculated using a Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test. (E) Correlation between viral load and percentage of gp120⁺ platelets was examined in samples with detectable viral loads. Correlation was calculated by nonparametric Spearman correlation.