Abstract

Dilip Rajinikanth*, Chandra Kumar, Aishwarya Mukerji , Jamsetji Mohanlal, Azim Gangandhar

Chemokine  receptors  and  their  ligands  may  confer  resistance  to  HIV-1  infection  and/or  AIDS progression. Our aim was to study our population for the most frequently studied polymorphism CCR5-32  for  evaluating  their  contribution  to  a  protective  genetic  background  against  HIV  infection  and progression.  One  hundred  and  fifty  blood  samples  from  normal  controls  were  recruited  at  random among prospective normal  blood  donors and  forty blood  samples of  HIV/AIDS  patients from Ethnic Kashmiri population were collected from Blood Bank and National AIDS Control Organisation of Sheri Kashmir  Institute  of  Medical  Sciences  Soura,  Kashmir  respectively.  Genotyping  was  performed  by polymerase  chain  reaction  (PCR)  analysis  followed  by  electrophoresis.  The  CCR5-    32  genotype frequency among our study group was wt/wt (93.3%), wt/mt (4%) and mt/mt (3%) from control group, revealing CCR5  32 allele frequency of  5%.  The frequency of the CCR5-   32 allele among our study population seems to be remarkably higher compared to previously reported frequencies in other Asian populations. However, since this polymorphism is related with delayed progression from HIV infection to AIDS, it could be used for prognostic genotyping in HIV infected Kashmiri individuals.