HIV-1 co-receptor usage:influence on mother-to-child transmission and pediatric infection

Viral CCR5 usage is not a predictive marker of mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV-1. CXCR4-using viral variants are little represented in pregnant women, have an increased although not significant risk of transmission and can be eventually also detected in the neonates. Genetic polymorphisms are more frequently of relevance in the child than in the mother. However, specific tissues as the placenta or the intestine, which are involved in the prevalent routes of infection in MTCT, may play an important role of selective barriers

Red cell enzyme polymorphisms in Friuli Venezia Giulia (northeast Italy).

Seven erythrocyte enzyme polymorphisms (ACP1, ADA, ESD, GLO1, PGD, PGM1 and PGM2) were investigated in a sample of 673 unrelated adult individuals from Friuli Venezia Giulia (or Friuli) and Istria. The gene frequencies found in the four provincial samples of Friuli and Istria fall within the range previously reported for Italy, showing a genetic homogeneity among the considered samples. However, comparisons with data from ex-Yugoslavian samples--using the chi 2 test--showed rather marked differences, probably due to a real different genetic structure of the compared samples. A significant association was found assuming a linear relation between the ADA*2 allele frequencies and longitude (r = +0.5503) and between the PGD*C frequencies and latitude (r = -0.6483), suggesting the existence of a clinal trend for these allele frequencies in Italy. These results seem to disagree with foregoing conclusions stated by other authors, probably because these studies were carried out in an area either rather narrow from the geographical point of view or affected by small size migration movements