Allelic frequencies of host genetic variants influencing susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and disease in South African populations.

OBJECTIVES

Limited information is available on the prevalence in African populations of host genetic polymorphisms conferring resistance to HIV-1 infection and disease. The objective of this study was to determine the allelic frequencies in South African populations of the chemokine receptor gene variants CCR5delta32, CCR5m303 and CCR2b-641 and the CXCR4 ligand gene variant SDF1-3'A.

METHOD

Cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of these gene variants in South African subjects of African and European descent.

RESULTS

The CCR5delta32 genetic variant is rare in individuals of African origin, having an allelic frequency of 0.1% (n = 1247) compared with 9.8% (n = 144) in Caucasians. The CCR5m303 mutation was not detected in Africans (n = 687), whereas an allelic frequency of 0.9% (n = 145) was identified in Caucasians. The frequency of CCR2b-641 allele was 13.1% (n = 180) in Africans, which was significantly higher that the 7.2% (n = 146) detected in Caucasians. Finally the allelic frequency of the SDF1-3'A gene variant was only 1.0% (n = 198) in Africans compared with 19.8% (n = 145) in Caucasians.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate that genetic polymorphisms conferring resistance to HIV-1 infection are rare in the South African Black population. Except for the CCR2b-641 gene variant, individuals of African origin also had a much lower prevalence of genetic variants associated with prolonged disease progression.