Chapter 10 - HLA and HIV-1 Infection

Abstract

The pathogenesis of an infectious disease involves interactions between the infectious agent and the host's immunologic response to the challenge. In Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection; these interactions appear to have fundamental consequences for many different aspects of the disease. The central role that the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) gene products play in cellular and humoral immunity suggests the possibility that one or more of the highly polymorphic MHC genes or gene products contribute to variability in pathogen-host interaction. The discovery of MHC gene products resulted from their properties as determinates of allograft rejection. Since tissue transplantation is not a natural process, investigators examined the possibility that HLA polymorphism might be related to disease processes. Indeed, most human diseases are tested for their association with HLA types and a number of associations are observed. Considering our present knowledge of the function of the MHC gene products as regulatory elements of the immune response, it is not surprising that these associations were with diseases commonly designated as having an autoimmune pathogenesis. However, the contribution that specific alleles play in a particular pathologic process remains to be determined for many of these diseases, despite the fact that some of these associations are observed for years.