HLA and AIDS: a cautionary tale

The human major histocompatibility complex HLA has been implicated repeatedly as a regulator of the outcome of HIV exposure and infection. A new study of long-term survivors who naturally depress HIV-1 replication and avoid the signs of AIDS for years after infection suggests that homozygosity for a group of HLA-B locus alleles termed Bw4 confers resistance, ostensibly by regulating natural killer cell-ligand interactions. However, close inspection of the accumulated evidence raises some questions and urges validation of the potential Bw4 effects in additional studies.