Risk of vertical HIV transmission combines the 'B35-Cw4 disadvantage' and the 'pattern of inheritance' theories of progression.
Mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy provides a unique system for studying the correlation between HLA phenotype and susceptibility to HIV infection. We studied this relationship in a Spanish cohort. We determined frequencies of HLA class I and II alleles in 120 infants born to HIV-infected mothers and 67 HIV-infected mothers. Although there was no statistical difference in the frequency of HLA-B35 between transmitting and non-transmitting mothers, the allele was more frequent in infected children than in uninfected children. HLA-B35 has been consistently reported as a risk factor in the progression to AIDS. In addition, it has been proposed that whether a given allele can confer susceptibility to, or protection against, progression depends on maternal versus paternal inheritance patterns, since the child inherits a virus that reflects the history of CTL encounters of the mother. Our results on vertical HIV transmission combine for the first time the 'HLA-B35 disadvantage' and the 'pattern of inheritance' theories.
Department of Immunology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Antonio
A
Arnaiz-Villena
José Manuel
JM
Martín-Villa
José Tomás Ramos
JT
Amador
Almudena
A
Cendoya-Matamoros
María Isabel González
MI
Tomé
José María
JM
Rivera
Narcisa
N
Martinez-Quiles
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D015797:HLA-B35 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D015236:HLA-C Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain; D055815:Young Adult
D015797:HLA-B35 Antigen; D015236:HLA-C Antigens; C039966:HLA-C*04 antigen