Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy facilitated by Epstein-Barr Virus infection. Here we resolve the major genetic influences for NPC incidence using a genome-wide association study (GWAS), independent cohort replication, and high-resolution molecular HLA class I gene typing including 4,055 study participants from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong province of southern China. We detect and replicate strong association signals involving SNPs, HLA alleles, and amino acid (aa) variants across the major histocompatibility complex-HLA-A, HLA –B, and HLA -C class I genes (PHLA-A-aa-site-62 = 7.4×10−29; P HLA-B-aa-site-116 = 6.5×10−19; P HLA-C-aa-site-156 = 6.8×10−8 respectively). Over 250 NPC-HLA associated variants within HLA were analyzed in concert to resolve separate and largely independent HLA-A, -B, and -C gene influences. Multivariate logistical regression analysis collapsed significant associations in adjacent genes spanning 500 kb (OR2H1, GABBR1, HLA-F, and HCG9) as proxies for peptide binding motifs carried by HLA- A*11:01. A similar analysis resolved an independent association signal driven by HLA-B*13:01, B*38:02, and B*55:02 alleles together. NPC resistance alleles carrying the strongly associated amino acid variants implicate specific class I peptide recognition motifs in HLA-A and -B peptide binding groove as conferring strong genetic influence on the development of NPC in China.

Objective Mitochondrial function plays a role in both AIDS progression and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) toxicity, therefore we sought to determine whether mitochondrial (mt) DNA variation revealed novel AIDS Restriction Genes (ARGs), particularly as mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are known to influence regulation of oxidative phosphorylation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and apoptosis. Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods We performed an association study of mtDNA haplogroups among 1833 European American HIV-1 patients from five US cohorts, the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), the San Francisco City Clinic Study (SFCC), Hemophilia Growth and Development Study (HGDS), the Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study (MHCS), and the AIDS Linked to Intravenous Experiences (ALIVE) cohort to determine whether the mtDNA haplogroup correlated with AIDS progression rate. Results MtDNA haplogroups J and U5a were elevated among HIV-1 infected people who display accelerated progression to AIDS and death. Haplogroups Uk, H3, and IWX appeared to be highly protective against AIDS progression. Conclusions The associations found in our study appear to support a functional explanation by which mtDNA variation among haplogroups influencing ATP production, ROS generation, and apoptosis is correlated to AIDS disease progression, however repeating these results in cohorts with different ethnic backgrounds would be informative. These data suggest that mitochondrial genes are important indicators of AIDS disease progression in HIV-1 infected persons.

Although highly active retroviral therapy (HAART) has been extremely effective in lowering AIDS incidence among patients infected with HIV, certain drugs included in HAART can cause serious mitochondrial toxicities. One of the most frequent adverse events is lipoatrophy, which is the loss of subcutaneous fat in the face, arms, buttocks and/or legs as an adverse reaction to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs). The clinical symptoms of lipoatrophy resemble those of inherited mitochondrial diseases, which suggests that host mitochondrial genotype may play a role in susceptibility. We analyzed the association between mitochondrial haplogroup and severity of lipoatrophy in HIV-infected European American patients on HAART in the Multicenter AIDS cohort Study (MACS) and found that mitochondrial haplogroup H was strongly associated with increased atrophy (arms: p = 0.007, OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.17–2.69 legs: p = 0.037, OR = 1.54 95% CI = 1.03–2.31, and buttocks: p = 0.10, OR = 1.41 95% CI = 0.94–2.12). We also saw borderline significance for haplogroup T as protective against lipoatrophy (p = 0.05, OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.20–1.00). These data suggest that mitochondrial DNA haplogroup may influence the propensity for lipoatrophy in patients receiving NRTIs.