HLA and other host factors in transfusion-acquired HIV-1 infection

• Published in: Human immunology 2000-02, Vol.61 (2), p.172-176
• Main Authors: Geczy, Andrew F, Kuipers, Harmjan, Coolen, Marcel, Ashton, Lesley J, Kennedy, Craig, Ng, Gwen, Dodd, Rebecca, Wallace, Rhonda, Le, Trang, Raynes-Greenow, Camille H, Dyer, Wayne B, Learmont, Jennifer C, Sullivan, John S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; AIDS/HIV; Alleles; Australia; CCR2; CCR5; CD4-CD8 Ratio; Disease Progression; Female; Genes, MHC Class I - genetics; Genotype; histocompatibility antigen HLA; Histocompatibility Testing; HIV Infections - genetics; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV Long-Term Survivors; HIV-1; HLA; HLA Antigens - genetics; HLA Antigens - immunology; human immunodeficiency virus 1; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Polymorphism, Genetic; Receptors, Chemokine - genetics; Transfusion Reaction; Viral Load
• ISSN: 0198-8859; 1879-1166
• DOI: 10.1016/S0198-8859(99)00142-1

The host and viral factors that underlie infection with HIV-1 vary considerably with some individuals progressing to AIDS within 3 to 5 years after infection, whereas others remain clinically asymptomatic for over 10 years. Host factors that may contribute to disease progression include HLA and allelic variants of the chemokine receptors CCR5 and CCR2, which have been shown to influence both long-term survival and rapid progression. In this study, we have examined the contribution of HLA and polymorphisms in CCR5 and CCR2 to long-term survival in transfusion-acquired HIV-1-infected individuals. We have found a higher number of HLA-A32 and -A25 alleles but a lower number of the HLA-B8 allele in the study group compared with the frequencies seen in the HIV-1-negative Australian caucasian population. However, there was no apparent contribution by allelic variants of CCR5 and CCR2 to long-term survival and the combined influence of HLA and CCR polymorphisms could not be evaluated in this relatively small ( n = 20) group of study subjects. The results of this work support a role for HLA in long-term non-progression though the presence in the Sydney Blood bank Cohort of nef-defective HIV-1 may confound associations between certain HLA alleles and long-term survival in the face of infection with HIV-1.