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Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II (HLA-DRB and -DQB) Allele Frequencies in Botswana: Association with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection

Botswana-Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative Partnership for HIV Research and Education, Private Bag BO320, Bontleng, Gaborone, Botswana,¹ Harvard School of Public Health, 651 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115,² Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, McGill University, 3755 Côte Ste. Catherine Road, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1E2³

Received 15 April 2005/ Returned for modification 1 June 2005/ Accepted 28 June 2005

Southern Africa is facing an unprecedented public health crisis due to the high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Vaccine development and testing efforts, mainly based on elicitation of HIV-specific T cells, are under way. To understand the role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles in HIV pathogenesis and to facilitate HLA-based HIV-1 vaccine design, we analyzed the frequencies of HLA class II alleles within the southern African country of Botswana. Common HLA class II alleles were identified within the Batswana population through the molecular genotyping of DRB and DQB1 loci. The DRB1 allele groups DRB1*01, DRB1*02/15, DRB1*03, DRB1*11, and DRB1*13 were encountered at frequencies above 20%. Within the DQB1 locus, DQB1*06 (47.7%) was the most common allele group, followed by DQB1*03 (39.2%) and DQB1*04 (25.8%). We found that DRB1*01 was more common in HIV-negative than in HIV-positive individuals and that those who expressed DRB1*08 had lower median viral loads. We demonstrate that the frequencies of certain HLA class II alleles in this Batswana population differ substantially from those in North American populations, including African-Americans. Common allele groups within Botswana cover large percentages of other African populations and could be targeted in regional vaccine designs.