Host genetics and immune control of HIV-1 infection: fine mapping for the extended human MHC region in an African cohort.
Multiple major histocompatibility complex (MHC) loci encoding human leukocyte antigens (HLA) have allelic variants unequivocally associated with differential immune control of HIV-1 infection. Fine mapping based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the extended MHC (xMHC) region is expected to reveal causal or novel factors and to justify a search for functional mechanisms. We have tested the utility of a custom fine-mapping platform (the ImmunoChip) for 172 HIV-1 seroconverters (SCs) and 449 seroprevalent individuals (SPs) from Lusaka, Zambia, with a focus on more than 6400 informative xMHC SNPs. When conditioned on HLA and nongenetic factors previously associated with HIV-1 viral load (VL) in the study cohort, penalized approaches (HyperLasso models) identified an intergenic SNP (rs3094626 between RPP21 and HLA-E) and an intronic SNP (rs3134931 in NOTCH4) as novel correlates of early set-point VL in SCs. The minor allele of rs2857114 (downstream from HLA-DOB) was an unfavorable factor in SPs. Joint models based on demographic features, HLA alleles and the newly identified SNP variants could explain 29% and 15% of VL variance in SCs and SPs, respectively. These findings and bioinformatics strongly suggest that both classic and nonclassic MHC genes deserve further investigation, especially in Africans with relatively short haplotype blocks.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
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Prentice
Department of Biostatistical Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
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NM
Pajewski
Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
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He
Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
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Zhang
Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
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Brown
Zambia-Emory HIV-1 Research Project, Lusaka, Zambia.
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Kilembe
1] Zambia-Emory HIV-1 Research Project, Lusaka, Zambia [2] Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Allen
Emory Vaccine Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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E
Hunter
Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
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Kaslow
1] Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA [2] Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
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J
Tang
D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D019562:Viral Load