Associations between HLA frequencies and pathogenic features of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in seroconverters from the Amsterdam cohort of homosexual

HLA-disease associations may be important for understanding the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-l) infection. Therefore, 106 homosexual men from the Amsterdam Cohort Study on AIDS with a known date of HIV-1 seroconversion were serologi-cally typed for HLA. Several significant associations between HLA type and pathogenic features of HIV-1 infection were observed: Subjects with fever and skin rash during primary HIV-l infection showed an increased frequency of HLA-B62 (relative risk [RR), 5.8; P =.005). The frequency of HLA-B35 was increased in subjects with a rapid decline in CD4+ T lymphocytes (RR, 3.2; P =.021). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed a significant association between HLA-B35 and a decrease in CD4+ cells to <200/ILL(P =.01). The strongest association was found between HLA-DRI and AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (RR, 22.5; P <.001), also con-firmed in survival analysis (P =.001). In AIDS patients with only opportunistic infections, increased frequencies of HLA-DR3 (P =.011) and-DQ2 (P =.007) were observed. Finally, the occurrence of syncytium-inducing HIV-1 variants was significantly associated with HLA-DQ2 (P =.01). Analyses of HLA frequencies in populations with a hig