HIV in Africa (Communication arising): chemokine-receptor genes and AIDS risk

Nature. 2002 May 9;417(6885):140. doi: 10.1038/417140a.

Abstract

Schliekelman et al. have provided a model to quantify the speed at which HIV-resistance haplotypes can become enriched in a susceptible population through a delay in the onset of AIDS, permitting greater lifetime reproduction and the selection of AIDS-delaying haplotypes. But we question their conclusion that there could be a rapid evolution of resistance to AIDS onset in some African populations if the current HIV epidemic persists, as this depends on an untested assumption: that variant forms of the chemokine-receptor-5 (CCR5) gene impart selective advantages or disadvantages in Africa that are comparable to those reported for African Americans. Here we test this premise in a large Ugandan population, and find that CCR5 variants are not associated with HIV/AIDS disease risk in Africa--the origin and centre of the current AIDS pandemic. This gene may therefore not be subject to rapid evolutionary change as a result of the HIV epidemic in Africa.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / epidemiology
  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / genetics*
  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / virology
  • Alleles
  • Black People / genetics
  • Disease Progression
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Gene Frequency
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease / genetics*
  • Genetic Variation / genetics
  • HIV-1 / classification
  • HIV-1 / isolation & purification
  • Haplotypes / genetics
  • Humans
  • Linkage Disequilibrium / genetics
  • Models, Genetic
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic / genetics
  • Receptors, CCR2
  • Receptors, CCR5 / genetics*
  • Receptors, Chemokine / genetics
  • Regression Analysis
  • Selection, Genetic
  • Uganda / epidemiology
  • White People / genetics

Substances

  • CCR2 protein, human
  • Receptors, CCR2
  • Receptors, CCR5
  • Receptors, Chemokine