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

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 thar 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 HT-A and polymorphisms in CCR5 and CCR2 to long-term survival in transfusion-acquired HIV-1-infrcted individuals. We have found a higher number of HLA-A32 and -A25 alleles bur 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 nonprogression though the presence in the Sydney Blood Lank Cohort of nef-defective HIV-1 map confound associations between certain HLA alleles and long-term survival in the face of infection with HIV-1. Human Immunology 61, 172-176 (2000). (C) American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2000. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.