Identification of Variants of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Entry Factors in Patients Highly Exposed to HCV but Remaining Uninfected: An ANRS Case-Control Study

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 16;10(11):e0142698. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142698. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes persistent infection in 75% of cases and is a major public health problem worldwide. More than 92% of intravenous drug users (IDU) infected by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are seropositive for HCV, and it is conceivable that some HIV-1-infected IDU who remain uninfected by HCV may be genetically resistant.Here we conducted a case-control study to identify mutations in HCV entry coreceptors in HIV-infected IDU who remained uninfected by HCV. We recruited 138 patients, comprising 22 HIV+ HCV- case IDU and 116 HIV+ HCV+ control IDU. We focused on coreceptors in which point mutations are known to abolish HCV infectivity in vitro. Our previous study of the Claudin-1 gene revealed no specific variants in the same case population. Here we performed direct genomic sequencing of the Claudin-6, Claudin-9, Occludin and Scavenger receptor-B1 (SCARB1) gene coding regions. Most HIV+ HCV- IDU had no mutations in HCV coreceptors. However, two HIV+ HCV- patients harbored a total of four specific mutations/variants of HCV entry factors that were not found in the HIV+ HCV+ controls. One case patient harbored heterozygous variants of both Claudin-6 and Occludin, and the other case patient harbored two heterozygous variants of SCARB1. This suggests that HCV resistance might involve complex genetic events and factors other than coreceptors, a situation similar to that reported for HIV-1 resistance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Claudins / genetics*
  • Computational Biology
  • DNA Primers
  • Disease Resistance / genetics
  • Drug Users
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / complications
  • HIV Infections / virology*
  • Hepacivirus
  • Hepatitis C / genetics*
  • Hepatitis C / transmission*
  • Heterozygote
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mutation
  • Occludin / genetics*
  • Scavenger Receptors, Class B / genetics*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Substance Abuse, Intravenous

Substances

  • CLDN9 protein, human
  • Claudins
  • DNA Primers
  • OCLN protein, human
  • Occludin
  • SCARB1 protein, human
  • Scavenger Receptors, Class B
  • claudin 6

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) (grants ANRS AO-1-2008 and ANRS AO-2-2013) and by grants from Roche laboratories (Dr. Alexandrina Pinta) and Janssen laboratories (Dr. Rima Lahoulou). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.