title: Frequency of the CCR5-Delta32 mutant allele is not increased in Belgian hepatitis C virus-infected patients.
abstract: A 32-base pair deletion in the CC-chemokine receptor 5 gene (CCR5), associated with resistance to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, has recently been suggested to act as an adverse host factor in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. To examine this hypothesis, we determined the CCR5-Delta32 allele frequency by polymerase chain reaction in a Belgian cohort of 163 HCV-infected patients and 310 healthy control subjects. The resulting CCR5-Delta32 allele frequencies were 0.080 and 0.119 for the patient group and control group, respectively. In contrast with a previous study, we could not show a statistically significant difference between the CCR5-Delta32 allele frequencies in HCV patients and controls. Moreover, genotype distributions in both populations were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Our results do not support the hypothesis that the CCR5-Delta32 mutant allele is a risk factor for hepatitis C virus infection.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, University of Leuven, Minderbroedersstraat 10, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Thoelen
authors.forename: Jannick
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verbeeck
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wollants
authors.forename: Piet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maes
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Robaeys
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Matheï
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buntinx
authors.forename: Frederik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nevens
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Ranst
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D019713:Receptors, CCR5 / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D019713:Receptors, CCR5