HIV-1 seroreversion in HIV-1-infected children: do genetic determinants play a role?

Asang, Corinna; Laws, Hans-J.; Adams, Ortwin; Enczmann, Jürgen; Feiterna-Sperling, Cornelia; Notheis, Gundula; Buchholz, Bernd; Borkhardt, Arndt und Neubert, Jennifer (2014): HIV-1 seroreversion in HIV-1-infected children: do genetic determinants play a role? In: AIDS, Vol. 28, No. 4: pp. 543-547

Abstract

Background: HIV-1 seroreversion in infants with vertically transmitted HIV-1 infection who started ART in the first months of life has been reported in only a subset of patients. However, the reason why most infants remain seropositive despite similar treatment response is not understood. Here, we assessed whether HIV-1 seroreversion in maternally infected infants is associated with genetic determinants.

Methods: HIV-1-infected infants with a history of documented HIV-1 seroreversion were identified throughout Germany using a standardized questionnaire. At study entry immune reconstitution and anti-HIV-1 antibody expression were monitored as clinical parameters. To search for genetic determinants high-resolution HLA genotyping was performed. In addition, the coding sequence of the chemokine receptor CCR5 was analyzed by Sanger sequencing regarding potential mutations.

Results: Patients showed normal numbers and frequencies of lymphocyte subpopulations. Five out of eight patients still had seronegative HIV-1 antibody status at study entry. HLA genotyping revealed the enrichment of HLA-DQB1*03 and DQB1*06 alleles within the patient cohort. Only one patient was found to carry a 32 bp-deletion within the CCR5 gene.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that the phenotype of HIV-1 seroreversion in infants might correlate with the presence of HLA class II alleles DQB1*03 and DQB1*06. This finding supports the idea of genetic predisposition determining HIV-1 seroreversion in vertically infected infants effectively treated with ART

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Medicine
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 0269-9370, 1350-2840
• Alliance/National Licence: This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
• Language: English