Frequency of CCR5Δ32 Allelic Mutation in Healthy Individuals in Zanjan Province

CCR5 is known as a main co-receptor in HIV infection. Many studies demonstrated that 32bp deletion in both CCR5 alleles provide natural resistance to HIV infection, so new treatment approaches are based on inducing this resistance by means of gene and cell therapies. This projects aim was the discovery of suitable candidates for new therapeutic strategies in addition to determining the CCR5 Δ32 mutation frequency in healthy individuals in Zanjan province for the first time.
Blood samples were collected from 200 healthy individuals in EDTA pre-coated tubes. Genomic DNA was extracted and analyzed for CCR5 Δ32 mutation by GAP-PCR. The allele frequency was calculated using the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE).
Our findings showed 1 healthy individual had CCR5 Δ32/Δ32 mutation and the allele frequency of CCR5Δ32 was calculated to be 0.5%.
Results of this study proved previous reports that Iranian populations are more susceptible to HIV/AIDS compared to the European population. Different climate-geographical conditions, migration and positive natural selection could explain various distribution of Δ32 allele frequency in European countries compared to Iran. Consequently, Iranians require more effective and novel therapeutic approaches for HIV infection therapy and could benefit from reducing retro-viral drug restrictions.