The Nine-Repeat DC-SIGNR Isoform is Associated with Increased HIV-RNA Loads and HIV Sexual Transmission

Objectives Determine if different DC-SIGNR genotypes/alleles correlated with HIV susceptibility in the context of the HIV mode of infection, CD4+ T cell counts and blood HIV RNA loads. Methods One hundred forty-five HIV infected individuals and 187 uninfected healthy controls were recruited to observe whether DC-SIGNR genotypes/alleles were correlated with HIV susceptibility, CD4+ T cell numbers and HIV-RNA levels. Results The frequencies of DC-SIGNR genotypes/alleles in HIV-infected patients were similar to those seen in the uninfected population. However, the 9-repeat DCSIGNR allele was more frequently found in patients infected via sexual transmission compared to patients infected via blood transmission/intravenous drug use ( p = 0.005). HIV RNA levels in patients with the 9- or 7-repeat DC SIGNR allele were significantly higher than the levels observed in patients with the 5-repeat DC SIGNR allele ( p = 0.004, p = 0.004, respectively) and the HIV RNA levels in patients with the 9/7 genotype or with the 7/7 genotype were significantly higher than patients with the 7/5 genotype ( p = 0.003, p = 0.029, respectively). There were no significant differences between CD4+ T cells in patients with different DC-SIGNR genotypes/alleles. Conclusions No DC-SIGNR genotypes/alleles were associated with reduced HIV susceptibility, however, DC-SIGNR genotypes/alleles with higher repeat numbers were associated with higher HIV-RNA blood levels, that is, the 9-repeat DC-SIGNR allele was significantly associated with increased HIV-RNA levels and HIV sexual transmission.