HIV-1 ∆Env infection resulted in upregulation of CXCL8 and BIRC3 in MDMs as early as 8 hpi in all donors, despite some donor-to-donor variability in the magnitude of upregulation (Fig. 6A; Fig. S6C), suggesting that HIV-1 infection upregulates NF-κB target genes early during infection, consistent with VLP delivery of Vpr. Here, CXCL8 is linked to infection.