Background: Vitamin D is a fundamental regulator of host defenses by activating genes related to innate and adaptive immunity. In this study, we analyzed the association among single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene, with clinical patterns of AIDS progression in antiretroviral treatment (ART)-naïve HIV-infected patients.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in 667 HIV-infected patients, who were classified within three groups according to their AIDS progression pattern (183 long-term non-progressors (LTNPs), 334 moderate progressors (MPs), and 150 rapid progressors (RPs)). Five VDR SNPs (rs11568820, rs4516035, rs2228570, rs1544410, and rs7975232) were genotyped using Agena Bioscience's MassARRAY platform.
Results: Significant association results were found for rs2228570. Within all HIV patients, the presence of T allele at VDR rs2228570 SNP was protective against AIDS progression (ordinal outcome) under additive (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.75; p = 0.009), dominant (aOR = 0.69; p = 0.015), and codominant (aOR = 0.56; p = 0.017) inheritance models. In addition, the same allele was protective under additive and codominant inheritance models when we compared with LTNPs vs. RPs [aOR = 0.64 (p = 0.019) and aOR = 0.37 (p = 0.018), respectively] and when we compared MPs vs. RPs [aOR = 0.72 (p = 0.035) and aOR = 0.45 (p = 0.028), respectively].
Conclusions: The VDR rs2228570 T allele was related to a lower AIDS progression pattern in ART-naïve HIV-infected patients. These findings expand upon the knowledge about HIV pathogenesis in untreated HIV-infected patients with different clinical outcomes.
Keywords: AIDS; LTNPs; VDR; non-progression; single nucleotide polymorphisms.