The frequency of CCR5Δ32 and CCR2-64I in southern Iranian normal population

Host genetic control of HIV infection involves certain polymorphisms of some chemokine receptor genes that are associated with susceptibility and progression of HIV-1 infection. Recent data suggest that two important polymorphisms in CCR2 and CCR5 chemokine receptors, CCR5Δ32 and CCR2-64I, prevent HIV transmission and delay disease progression. In this study allele and haplotype frequencies of the CCR5Δ32 and CCR2-64I mutations were determined in southern Iranian normal population using PCR and PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assays. Allele frequencies and the fit to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) were evaluated by Arlequin population genetic software. Frequencies of CCR5Δ32 and CCR2-64I alleles were 0.0146 and 0.1221, respectively. Moreover, higher and lower haplotype frequencies in 341 normal individuals were CCR2/CCR5 (0.8636) and CCR5/CCR2-64I (0.1217), respectively. Only one case with CCR5Δ32/CCR2-64I haplotype was found among the studied normal population. This data is the first finding on the frequencies of CCR5Δ32 and CCR2-64I alleles in Iranian population. Results of the present study suggest that low frequency of CCR5Δ32 allele may be related to higher genetic susceptibility to the HIV-1 infection in Iranians. Results also suggest that the CCR2-64I mutation is sufficiently common in Iranians and may be associated with slower HIV infection progression in Iran.