Biology Faculty Articles
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2002
Publication Title
Journal of Virology
ISSN
0022-538X
Volume
76
Issue/No.
10
First Page
4792
Last Page
4797
Abstract
In studies of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, the early host immune response is one of the determinants of viral persistence. The class I human leukocyte antigens (HLA), which present foreign antigen to cytolytic T cells, are integral components of this response. We hypothesized that the highly polymorphic HLA genes affect the outcome of an HCV infection. To test this hypothesis, we molecularly typed 231 persons with well-documented clearance of an HCV infection and 444 matched persistently infected persons. HLA-A*1101 (odds ratio [OR], 0.49; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.27 to 0.89), HLA-B*57 (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.39 to 1.00), and HLA-Cw*0102 (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.89) were associated with viral clearance, whereas HLA-A*2301 (OR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.01 to 3.11) and HLA-Cw*04 (OR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.21 to 2.59) were associated with viral persistence. HLA-Cw*04 is in strong linkage disequilibrium with HLA-B*53 and HLA-B*35, but only HLA-B*53 (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 0.95 to 3.06) and theCw*04-B*53 haplotype (OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 0.94 to 3.26) were weakly associated with viral persistence. HLA-B*53 has similar, but not necessarily identical, binding specificity to some HLA-B*35 subtypes (B*35-Px group). The association with theB*35-Px group was less strong than with HLA-B*53 alone. The association of HLA-Cw*04 with HCV persistence was codominant (two copies of the gene were more strongly associated with persistence than one copy). However, HLA-Cw*04 was not associated with HCV RNA levels among the persistently infected individuals. Since Cw*04 is a ligand for the killer immunoglobulin-like receptors on natural killer cells, these cells may be involved in recovery from HCV infection. Further investigation is needed to understand the relationship between class I alleles and HCV clearance.
Additional Comments
NIH grants: DA00441, DA04334, DA13324, MO1-RR06020, MO1-RR00071, MO1-RR00059, MO1-RR02558, NO1-CO-56000; Bureau of Maternal and Child Health and Resources Development grant: MCJ-060570; NCI grant: N01-CP-33002
NSUWorks Citation
Thio, Chloe L.; Xiaojiang Gao; James J. Goedert; David Vlahov; Kenrad E. Nelson; Margaret Hilgartner; Stephen J. O'Brien; Peter Karacki; Jacquie Astemborski; Mary Carrington; and David L. Thomas. 2002. "HLA-Cw*04 and Hepatitis C Virus Persistence." Journal of Virology 76, (10): 4792-4797. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/207
ORCID ID
0000-0001-7353-8301
ResearcherID
N-1726-2015
Comments
© 2002, American Society for Microbiology