Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses against the HIV Gag protein are associated with lowering viremia; however, immune control is undermined by viral escape mutations. The rapid viral mutation rate is a key factor, but recombination may also contribute. We hypothesized that CTL responses drive the outgrowth of unique intra-patient HIV-recombinants (URFs) and examined gag sequences from a Kenyan sex worker cohort. We determined whether patients with HLA variants associated with effective CTL responses (beneficial HLA variants) were more likely to carry URFs and, if so, examined whether they progressed more rapidly than patients with beneficial HLA-variants who did not carry URFs. Women with beneficial HLA-variants (12/52) were more likely to carry URFs than those without beneficial HLA variants (3/61) (p
Journal article
Sci Rep
17/06/2015
5
Adult, Disease Progression, Female, Genetic Variation, Genotype, HIV Core Protein p24, HIV Infections, HIV-1, HLA Antigens, Humans, Leukocytes, Mononuclear, Molecular Typing, Mutation, Recombination, Genetic, Sex Workers, gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus