Deleterious genetic influence of CX3CR1 genotypes on HIV-1 disease progression.

We previously reported that patients homozygous for a specific mutation (M280) in the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 progressed to AIDS more rapidly than those with other genotypes. This deleterious effect would predict that a cohort of prevalent patients would be depleted in M280 carriers, because these patients would have disappeared before recruitment. This hypothesis is confirmed in this new study based on the French SEROCO cohort showing that patients homozygous for the M280 allele were rare among the seroprevalent group. These results may explain the conflicting results published on the impact of CX3CR1 polymorphism in seroconverters.