Cord blood stem cell transplantation is routinely used to treat hematopoietic diseases. Individuals who are homozygous for the Δ32 polymorphism of the CCR5 locus, encoding a co-receptor for HIV-1, are normal and are resistant to HIV infection. Here we suggest that public cord blood repositories are likely to contain CCR5 homozygous units that could be used as a therapy for HIV-infected individuals.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DeanM, CarringtonM, WinklerC, HuttleyGA, SmithMW, AllikmetsR, GoedertJJ, BuchbinderSP, VittinghoffE, GompertsE, DonfieldS, VlahovD, KaslowR, SaahA, RinaldoC, DetelsR. Hemophilia Growth, Development Study, Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study, San Francisco City Cohort, ALIVE Study and SJ O'Brien. 1996. Genetic restriction of HIV-1 infection and progression to AIDS by a deletion allele of the CKR5 structural gene. Science, 273:1856–1862.
2.
LiuR, PaxtonWA, ChoeS, CeradiniD, MartinSR, HorukR, MacDonaldME, StuhlmannH, KoupRA, LandauNR. 1996. Homozygous defect in HIV-1 coreceptor accounts for resistance of some multiply-exposed individuals to HIV-1 infection. Cell, 86:367–377.
KuhmannSE, HartleyO. 2008. Targeting chemokine receptors in HIV: a status report. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol, 48:425–461.
5.
MartinsonJJ, ChapmanNH, ReesDC, LiuYT, CleggJB. 1997. Global distribution of the CCR5 gene 32-basepair deletion. Nat Genet, 16:100–103.
6.
GalvaniAP, SlatkinM. 2003. Evaluating plague and smallpox as historical selective pressures for the CCR5-Δ32 HIV-resistance allele. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA), 100:15276–15279.
7.
SullivanAD, WiggintonJ, KirschnerD. 2001. The coreceptor mutation CCR5Δ32 influences the dynamics of HIV epidemics and is selected for by HIV. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA), 98:10214–10219.
AgrawalL, LuX, QingwenJ, VanHorn-Ali ZZ, NicolescuIV, McDermottDH, MurphyPM, AlkhatibG. 2004. Role for CCR5Δ32 protein in resistance to R5, R5X4, and X4 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in primary CD4+ cells. J Virol, 78:2277–2287.
10.
SchlechtHP, SchellhornS, DezubeBJ, JacobsonJM. 2008. New approaches in the treatment of HIV/AIDS—focus on maraviroc and other CCR5 antagonists. Ther Clin Risk Manag, 4:473–485.
