Genome-Wide Association Study on the Development of Cross-Reactive Neutralizing Antibodies in HIV-1 Infected Individuals

Broadly neutralizing antibodies may protect against HIV-1 acquisition. In natural infection, only 10–30% of patients have cross-reactive neutralizing humoral immunity which may relate to viral and or host factors. To explore the role of host genetic markers in the formation of cross-reactive neutralizing activity (CrNA) in HIV-1 infected individuals, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS), in participants of the Amsterdam Cohort Studies with known CrNA in their sera. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with the strongest P-values are located in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region, close to MICA (P = 7.68×10(−7)), HLA-B (P = 6.96×10(−6)) and in the coding region of HCP5 (P = 1.34×10(−5)). However, none of the signals reached genome-wide significance. Our findings underline the potential involvement of genes close or within the MHC region with the development of CrNA.