Abstract

Human leukocyte antigen variants B*44 and B*57 are consistently favorable during two distinct phases of primary HIV-1 infection in sub-Saharan Africans with several viral subtypes

Tang J, Cormier E, Gilmour J, Price MA, Prentice HA, Song W, Kamali A, Karita E, Lakhi S, Sanders EJ, Anzala O, Amornkul PN, Allen S, Hunter E, Kaslow RA
J Virol. 2011;85

Permenent descriptor

As part of an ongoing study of early human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection in sub-Saharan African countries, we have identified 134 seroconverters (SCs) with distinct acute-phase (peak) and early chronic-phase (set-point) viremias. SCs with class I human leukocyte antigen (HLA) variants B*44 and B*57 had much lower peak viral loads (VLs) than SCs without these variants (adjusted linear regression beta values of -1.08 +/- 0.26 log(10) [mean +/- standard error] and -0.83 +/- 0.27 log(10), respectively; P < 0.005 for both), after accounting for several nongenetic factors, including gender, age at estimated date of infection, duration of infection, and country of origin. These findings were confirmed by alternative models in which major viral subtypes (A1, C, and others) in the same SCs replaced country of origin as a covariate (P