Expression of macrophage products after in vitro infection of human monocytes/macrophages with HIV.

We studied the response of monocytes/macrophages (MO/MAC) to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-gamma (IFN gamma) stimulation with respect to the expression of macrophage-specific products, i.e. macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), c-fms, c-sis, tissue factors, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF beta) and interleukin-8 (IL8) after in vitro infection with HIV. The expression of IL8 was strongly elevated in HIV-infected cells, peaking at 4 h after stimulation with LPS. At that time, the uninfected control showed only weak expression of IL8. Other products, e.g. tissue factor, c-fms, M-CSF and TGF beta were not modulated after stimulation. In contrast to IL8, the expression of c-cis was significantly lower in infected cells after stimulation with IFN gamma compared to uninfected control cells.