Publication Date:
2012-09-14
Description:
A small proportion of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infected individuals, termed HIV-1 controllers, suppress viral replication to very low levels in the absence of therapy. Genetic investigations of this phenotype have strongly implicated variation in the class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region as key to HIV-1 control. We collected sequence-based classical class I HLA genotypes at 4-digit resolution in HIV-1-infected African American controllers and progressors ( n = 1107), and tested them for association with host control using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism data to account for population structure. Several classical alleles at HLA-B were associated with host control, including B*57:03 [odds ratio (OR) = 5.1; P = 3.4 x 10 –18 ] and B*81:01 (OR = 4.8; P = 1.3 x 10 –9 ). Analysis of variable amino acid positions demonstrates that HLA-B position 97 is the most significant association with host control in African Americans (omnibus P = 1.2 x 10 –21 ) and explains the signal of several HLA-B alleles, including B*57:03. Within HLA-B, we also identified independent effects at position 116 (omnibus P = 2.8 x 10 –15 ) in the canonical F pocket, position 63 in the B pocket ( P = 1.5 x 10 –3 ) and the non-pocket position 245 ( P = 8.8 x 10 –10 ), which is thought to influence CD8-binding kinetics. Adjusting for these HLA-B effects, there is evidence for residual association in the MHC region. These results underscore the key role of HLA-B in affecting HIV-1 replication, likely through the molecular interaction between HLA-B and viral peptides presented by infected cells, and suggest that sites outside the peptide-binding pocket also influence HIV-1 control.
Print ISSN:
0964-6906
Electronic ISSN:
1460-2083
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
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