WASHINGTON (AFX) - People with duplicate copies of an immune system gene are less susceptible to HIV, the cause of AIDS, according to a study appearing in the Jan 7 edition of "Science" magazine.
"Individual risk of acquiring HIV and experiencing rapid disease progression is not uniform within populations," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which financed the study.
"This important study identifies genetic factors of particular groups that either mitigate or enhance one's susceptibility to infection and disease onset."
Researchers examined more than 4,300 blood samples from Americans of different ancestries to find out the average number of genes that encode CCL3L1, a potent HIV-blocking protein that interacts with CCR5, a major receptor protein "doorway" that HIV uses to enter and infect cells.
Blood samples from 800 children in Argentina, exposed to HIV through their mothers, were also tested in the international study whose researchers included three Argentine scientists.
In tests on different population groups, African-Americans had four copies of the CCL3L1 gene, compared with two and three in European-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.
Each additional CCL3L1 copy lowered the risk of acquiring HIV by between 4.5 and 10.5 pct.
Moreover, people who had below-average copy numbers of the gene had a 39 to 260 pct higher risk of getting the disease or having AIDS progress rapidly, researchers found.
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"Individual risk of acquiring HIV and experiencing rapid disease progression is not uniform within populations," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which financed the study.
"This important study identifies genetic factors of particular groups that either mitigate or enhance one's susceptibility to infection and disease onset."
Researchers examined more than 4,300 blood samples from Americans of different ancestries to find out the average number of genes that encode CCL3L1, a potent HIV-blocking protein that interacts with CCR5, a major receptor protein "doorway" that HIV uses to enter and infect cells.
Blood samples from 800 children in Argentina, exposed to HIV through their mothers, were also tested in the international study whose researchers included three Argentine scientists.
In tests on different population groups, African-Americans had four copies of the CCL3L1 gene, compared with two and three in European-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.
Each additional CCL3L1 copy lowered the risk of acquiring HIV by between 4.5 and 10.5 pct.
Moreover, people who had below-average copy numbers of the gene had a 39 to 260 pct higher risk of getting the disease or having AIDS progress rapidly, researchers found.
js/jlp/kd/jsa
For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com
© 2005 AFX News
