DOI: 10.26650/experimed.1887002 ISSN: 2667-5846

Role of HLA-B Leader Peptides and HLA-E Genetic Variants in HIV Infection

Yeliz Öğret, Çiğdem Kekik Çınar, Arif Çağatay, Hayriye Şentürk Çiftçi, Kürşat Özdilli, Fatma Savran Oğuz
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Objective: This study assessed whether human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B signal peptide dimorphism at position −21 (HLA-B-21) Methionine/Threonine (M/T) and HLA-E polymorphisms are associated with the level of viremia in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals from the Turkish population.Materials and Methods: The study cohort comprised 130 HIV--positive patients and 102 healthy controls. HLA typing was achieved through a next-generation sequencing (NGS)--based approach, and HLA-E alleles were determined by Sanger sequencing. HIV-1 level of viremia was measured using the COBAS Ampliprep/TaqMan system. Statistical evaluation included chi-square analysis, nonparametric techniques, and logistic regression modeling.Results: HLA-E\*01:01 and the homozygous E\*01:01 genotype were observed significantly more frequently in HIV--positive patients than in controls. No significant relationship was found between HLA-E alleles and viral load. The HLA-B\*51:01 allele was significantly more frequent in patients with a higher viral load, whereas HLA-B\*44:02 showed a similar trend without reaching statistical significance. In addition, the HLA-B-21 T/T genotype was significantly associated with higher viral load levels.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the HLA-B-21 signal peptide polymorphism may play a role in modulating HIV replication, whereas HLA-E polymorphisms alone appear to have a limited impact. This study provides novel immunogenetic data from the Turkish population and highlights the potential of HLA-B-21 polymorphism as a genetic marker influencing HIV disease progression.

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