MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX CLASS-II DR ALLELES DRB1-ASTERISK-1501 AND THOSE ENCODING HLA-DR13 ARE PREFERENTIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH A DIMINUTION IN MATERNALLY TRANSMITTED HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS-1 INFECTION IN DIFFERENT ETHNIC-GROUPS - DETERMINATION BY AM AUTOMATED SEQUENCE-BASED TYPING METHOD

Transmission of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) from an infecte d women to her offspring during gestation and delivery was found to be influenced by the infant's major histocompatibility complex class II DRB1 alleles, Forty-six HIV-infected infants and 63 seroreverting infa nts, born with passively acquired anti-HIV antibodies but not becoming detectably infected, were typed by an automated nucleotide-sequence-b ased technique that uses low-resolution PCR to select either the simpl er Tag or the more demanding T7 sequencing chemistry, One or more DR13 alleles, including DRB11301, 1302, and 1303, were found in 31.7% of seroreverting infants and 15.2% of those becoming HIV-infected [OR (od ds ratio) = 2.6 (95% confidence interval 1.0-6.8); P = 0.048], This as sociation was influenced by ethnicity, being seen more strongly among the 80 Black and Hispanic children [OR = 4.3 (1.2-16.4); P = 0.023], w ith the most pronounced effect among Black infants where 7 of 24 seror everters inherited these alleles with none among 12 HIV-infected infan ts (Haldane OR = 12.3; P = 0.037), The previously recognized associati on of DR13 alleles with some situations of long-term nonprogression of HIV suggests that similar mechanisms may regulate both the occurrence of infection and disease progression after infection, Upon examining for residual associations, only the DR2 allele DRB11501 was associate d with seroreversion in Caucasoid infants (OR = 24; P = 0.004), Among Caucasoids the DRB103011 allele was positively associated with the oc currence of HIV infection (P = 0.03).