The VNTR polymorphism of the CLEC4M gene and susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in Han Chinese population.

C-type lectin domain family 4, member M (CLEC4M, also known as DC-SIGNR) is a C-type lectin that functions as a transreceptor for human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). The relationship between variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism of the DC-SIGNR gene and susceptibility to HIV-1 infection has been under debate. In the present study, a cohort of 287 HIV-1 seropositive patients and 388 ethnically age-matched healthy controls from Han Chinese population were enrolled in order to determine the influence of host genetic factors on HIV-1 infection. A total of 11 genotypes and 5 alleles were found in our population. A cross-sectional comparison between HIV-1 seropositive patients and healthy controls did not reveal significant differences with regards to DC-SIGNR genotype distribution, allele frequencies and homozygotes proportion. In addition, previous studies showed that DC-SIGNR might play different roles in different HIV infection routes. We stratified the patients into two subgroups: sexual contact patients and intravenous drug abuser/blood transfusion patients. Our results showed the frequencies of DC-SIGNR genotypes/alleles in these two subgroups were similar. To our knowledge, this is the first study performed in Northern Chinese. Our findings suggested that DC-SIGNR neck region VNTR polymorphism was not directly associated with hosts' predisposition for HIV-1 infection and not associated with the HIV-1 routes of infection. By lack of HIV-1 exposed seronegative (HESN) individuals and relative small sample size in present study made our conclusions not strong enough. In addition, the role of the DC-DIGNR neck region in different HIV-1 infection routes remains open for future study.