Genome-Wide Association Study of HIV-1 Host Genetics Among Injection Drug Users

The overarching goal of this project is to identify and characterize genetic determinants of HIV 1 susceptibility and resistance in samples of African American (AA) and European American (EA) injection drug users (IDUs) by conducting (1) a case/control genome-wide association (GWA) study of HIV 1 infection (positive/negative); (2) a case-only GWA study of viral load among HIV+ IDUs. The study uses existing samples and data from Urban Health Study (UHS) (PI: Alex Kral), which was the longest-running study of street-recruited IDUs in North America, from 1986-2005. UHS was a serial, cross-sectional sero-epidemiological study. Data were collected every 6 months in communities with a high prevalence of injection drug use in the San Francisco Bay Area. It used targeted sampling in neighborhoods at easily accessible community field sites, such as churches, single room occupancy hotels, and community centers. Eligibility criteria for initial entry to the study were (1) injection drug use in past 30 days; (2) ability to provide informed consent; and (3) age 18 or older. The UHS cohort includes over 9,000 African American and European American IDUs whose serum samples have been stored and data are available on HIV antibody status, HIV risk behaviors, drug abuse and demographics. The current study includes 985 HIV+ cases and 5,222 HIV- controls. Approximately six HIV- controls per case were frequency matched on: (1) self-reported ancestry; (2) sex; (3) age; (4) year of ascertainment; and (5) HIV risk class. This GWAS (DA026141) was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA; PI: Eric O. Johnson). Funding support for genotyping, which was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR), was provided by NIDA and the NIH contract "High throughput genotyping for studying the genetic contributions to human disease"(HHSN268200782096C).]]>
All GWAS participants came from the Urban Health Study (UHS): a serial, cross-sectional sero-epidemiological study conducted from 1986 - 2005. Eligibility criteria for initial entry to the UHS were: (1) injection drug use in past 30 days; (2) ability to provide informed consent; and (3) age 18 or older. Additional criteria for the GWAS were adequate stored serum volume (≥1.5ml), valid HIV test results, and self-identification as African American or European American. Cases were identified as those with a positive HIV test. Controls were identified as those with a negative HIV test. Among the available control participants were selected for genotyping by frequency matching to cases on: (1) self-reported ancestry; (2) sex; (3) age; (4) year of ascertainment; and (5) HIV risk class.]]>
All GWAS participants came from the Urban Health Study (UHS): a serial, cross-sectional sero-epidemiological study conducted from 1986 - 2005. This is the first genetic study from this cohort.]]>