OBJECTIVETo investigate the V249I and T280M allelic polymorphisms of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coreceptor CX3CR1 in HIV-1 infected and uninfected population of Chinese indigenous Han and Uygur people and to probe the association between I249-M280 haplotype and HIV-1 susceptibility as well as AIDS progression.

METHODSGenomic DNA of 223 Uygur subjects and 316 Han subjects were purified from PBMC. I249 and M280 allelic frequencies were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/nest polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. All data were tested by chi(2) or u statistics analysis.

RESULTSAllelic frequencies of I249 and M280 were 16.1% and 13.3% in Uygur people, and 3.3% and 2.4% in Han people. No obvious difference existed between three groups of either ethnic group. However the allelic frequencies of HIV infected population were higher than those of general population, and those of general population higher than those of HIV-1 high-risk group. There was a strong linkage between I249 and M280 (P almost zero).

CONCLUSIONSI249 mutation was the sine qua non of M280 mutation, and most I249 alleles were accompanied by M280. The frequency of I249-M280 haplotype in Uygur population (13.3%) was adjacent to Caucasian people (15.8%), and that of I249-T280 haplotype (2.8%) was obviously lower than Caucasian people (12.5%); while both of them in Han people were much lower (0.9% and 2.4%). I249-M280 haplotype could accelerate AIDS progression according to Faure et al, while might be associated with HIV-1 susceptibility.