INTRODUCTION

We have reanalyzed the genomic data of the International Collaboration for the Genomics of HIV (ICGH), centering on HIV-1 Elite Controllers.

METHODS

We performed a genome-wide Association Study comparing 543 HIV Elite Controllers with 3,272 uninfected controls of European descent. Using the latest database for imputation, we analyzed 35,552 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) within the Major Histocompatibility Complex () region.

RESULTS

Our analysis identified 2,626 SNPs significantly associated (p<5. 10-8) with elite control of HIV-1 infection, including well-established signals such as the rs2395029-G allele which tags . A thorough investigation of SNPs in linkage disequilibrium with rs2395029 revealed an extensive haploblock spanning 1.9 megabases in the region tagging , comprising 379 SNP alleles impacting 72 genes. This haploblock contains damaging variations in proteins like NOTCH4 and DXO and is also associated with a strong differential pattern of expression of multiple genes such as , and . The study was expanded to include two cohorts of seropositive African-American individuals, where a haploblock tagging the allele was similarly associated with control of viral load. The mRNA expression profile of this haploblock in African Americans closely mirrored that in the European cohort.

DISCUSSION

These findings suggest that additional molecular mechanisms beyond the conventional antigen-presenting role of class I HLA molecules may contribute to the observed influence of alleles on HIV-1 elite control. Overall, this study has uncovered a large haploblock associated with alleles, providing novel insights into their massive effect on HIV-1 elite control.