MEDICAL UPDATE: More on Genetic Cofactors

MEDICAL UPDATE: More on Genetic Cofactors

Being Alive/Los Angeles; Being Alive Newsletter - November 1993
presented by Mark Katz, MD and reported by Jim Stoecker

Most researchers believe that genetic makeup plays a role in the progression of HIV disease. Some corroborating evidence of a genetic cofactor is found in the journal AIDS (July 1993). Researchers report on a study of people with hemophilia in France; they were able to isolate one HLA antigen that appears linked to progression.

Each of us is born with four HLA antigens, two from our mother and two from our father. These antigens appear to have something to do with immune functioning. In the French group, researchers found that those people with hemophilia with the HLA antigen B35 were almost three times as likely to progress to AIDS than those without this particular HLA antigen. This study may not have great practical impact, but it does underscore that genetic makeup is at least one of the determinants of HIV disease progression.
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