Figure 5

HIV1 proteins alter RUNX-2 activity, BMP-2 secretion and cellular levels of CTGF in differentiating MSCs. MSCs were cultured in a 96-well plate format and induced to differentiate in the presence and absence of 100 ng/ml of HIV REV and p55-gag. Untreated, undifferentiated cells were included as controls. Cells were harvested at 3, 6, 9 and 15 days post induction of differentiation; whole cell ELISA was performed for CTGF (Fig. 5A), media fractions were analysed for BMP-2 levels (Fig. 5B), while nuclear extracts were assessed for RUNX-2 activity (Fig. 5C), Data expressed percentage of untreated control ± SEM (A, C,), or pg BMP-2 per ml^-1/μg cellular protein extracted (B) ± SEM. All data is the mean of several independent experiments. (Significance determined at; *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.005 relative to undifferentiated control, ^p ≤ 0.05, ^^p ≤ 0.01, ^^^p ≤ 0.005 relative to differentiated control).