Host genomics of the HIV-1 reservoir size and its decay rate during suppressive antiretroviral treatment

IntroductionA major hurdle to HIV-1 eradication is the establishment of a latent viral reservoir early after primary infection. Several factors are known to influence the HIV-1 reservoir size and decay rate on suppressive antiretroviral treatment (ART), but little is known about the role of human genetic variation.MethodsWe measured the reservoir size at three time points over a median of 5.4 years, and searched for associations between human genetic variation and two phenotypic readouts: the reservoir size at the first time point and its decay rate over the study period. We assessed the contribution of common genetic variants using genome-wide genotyping data from 797 patients with European ancestry enrolled in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study and searched for a potential impact of rare variants and exonic copy number variants using exome sequencing data generated in a subset of 194 study participants.ResultsGenome- and exome-wide analyses did not reveal any significant association with the size of the HIV-1 reservoir or its decay rate on suppressive ART.ConclusionsOur results point to a limited influence of human genetics on the size of the HIV-1 reservoir and its long-term dynamics in successfully treated individuals.