Protease polymorphisms in HIV-1 subtype CRF01_AE represent selection by antiretroviral therapy and host immune pressure.

Background: Most of our knowledge about how antiretrovirals and host immune responses influence the HIV-1 protease gene is derived from studies of subtype B virus. We investigated the effect of protease resistance-associated mutations (PRAMs) and population-based HLA haplotype frequencies on polymorphisms found in CRF01_AE pro.

Methods: We used all CRF01_AE protease sequences retrieved from the LANL database and obtained regional HLA frequencies from the dbMHC database.