APOBEC3H polymorphisms and susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in an Indian population

Human apobec3h (a3h) is a member of apobec cytidine deaminase family intensively constraining the hiv-1 replication. a3h is known to be polymorphic with different protein stability and anti-hiv-1 activity in vitro. we recently reported that a3h haplotypes composed of two functional polymorphisms, rs139292 (n15del) and rs139297 (g105r), were associated with the susceptibility to hiv-1 infection in japanese. to confirm the association of a3h and hiv-1 infection in another ethnic group, a total of 241 hiv-1-infected indian individuals and ethnic-matched 286 healthy controls were analyzed for the a3h polymorphisms. the frequency of 15del allele was high in the hiv-1-infected subjects as compared with the controls (0.477 vs 0.402, odds ratio (or)=1.36, p=0.014). haplotype analysis showed that the frequencies of 15del–105r was high (0.475 vs 0.400, or=1.36, permutation p=0.037) in the hiv-1-infected subjects, confirming the association of a3h polymorphisms with the susceptibility to hiv-1 infection.