Transmission of HIV-1 and HLA-B allele-sharing within serodiscordant heterosexual Zambian couples.
Factors that might increase risk of HIV-1 transmission include age, sex, and amount of HIV-1 RNA in plasma, but findings for HLA allele-sharing are not in agreement. We tested the hypothesis that allele sharing at HLA loci is associated with increased risk of transmission of HIV-1 infection in cohabiting heterosexual Zambian couples. We studied 125 initially serodiscordant partners with sequence-confirmed interpartner HIV-1 transmission and 104 couples who were persistently serodiscordant, and we analysed relations with molecularly typed HLA-A, B, and C alleles by survival techniques. After adjustment for other genetic and non-genetic risk factors seen with heterosexual transmission of HIV-1 in this cohort, sharing of HLA-B alleles was independently associated with accelerated intracouple transmission (relative hazard 2.23, 95% CI 1.52-3.26, p<0.0001). Selective pressure by HLA-B alleles on transmitted viruses accords with current understanding of the effect of B locus polymorphism in HIV-1 and perhaps other infections.
Dorak
M Tevfik
MT
Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-0022, USA.
Tang
Jianming
J
Penman-Aguilar
Ana
A
Westfall
Andrew O
AO
Zulu
Isaac
I
Lobashevsky
Elena S
ES
Kancheya
Nzali G
NG
Schaen
Margaret M
MM
Allen
Susan A
SA
Kaslow
Richard A
RA
D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D000917:Antibody Formation; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000635:transmission*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D020010:Heterosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012747:Sexual Partners
D006680:HLA Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D012367:RNA, Viral