In vivo evidence that the cannabinoid receptor 2-63 RR variant is associated with the acquisition and/or expansion of HIV infection.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study was to investigate whether the rs35761398 variants of the cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) gene may influence the acquisition of HIV infection and the clinical presentation of HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection.


METHODS
We compared 166 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with 186 HCV-monoinfected patients, all with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis (using the Ishak scoring system), naïve for anti-HCV treatment and tested for the CB2 rs35761398 polymorphism (using the TaqMan assay).


RESULTS
The HIV/HCV-coinfected patients were more frequently male (P < 0.002), were younger (P < 0.001), and had lower median BMI (P < 0.001) and HCV RNA (P < 0.05) and higher median aspartate aminotransferase (AST; P < 0.001), alanine aminotransferase (ALT; P < 0.001) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT; P < 0.001) levels than the HCV-monoinfected patients. The CB2 RR variant predominated in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients (45.8% vs. 31.2% in HCV-monoinfected patients; P < 0.001) and the CB2 QR variant in HCV-monoinfected patients (57.5% vs. 38.6% in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients; P < 0.00001), and the CB2 QQ variant was equally distributed. Focusing on patients with the CB2 QQ variant, the 26 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients, compared with the 21 HCV-monoinfected patients, showed less severe liver necroinflammation [lower histological activity index (HAI)] (P < 0.05). Of the patients with the CB2 RR variant, the 76 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients, compared with the 58 HCV-monoinfected patients, were more frequently male (P < 0.05), were younger (P < 0.001), and had a lower median body mass index (BMI; P < 0.001), a higher median AST level (P < 0.001), a higher mean HAI score (P < 0.05) and a higher rate of cases with severe steatosis (P = 0.05). In an analysis of variance (anova) of HCV/HIV-coinfected and HCV-monoinfected patient data, those with the CB2 RR variant (P = 0.003) and of male sex (P = 0.002) were more prevalent in the HCV/HIV-coinfected group.


CONCLUSIONS
There is the suggestion of a positive effect of the CB2 RR variant on HIV acquisition and/or spread, which is in accordance with previous in vitro observations.
['Sagnelli|C|C|0000-0002-6413-7810', 'Uberti-Foppa|C|C|', 'Hasson|H|H|', 'Bellini|G|G|', 'Minichini|C|C|', 'Salpietro|S|S|', 'Messina|E|E|', 'Barbanotti|D|D|', 'Merli|M|M|', 'Punzo|F|F|', 'Coppola|N|N|', 'Lazzarin|A|A|', 'Sagnelli|E|E|0000-0003-2817-8436', 'Rossi|F|F|']
D000328:Adult D060085:Coinfection D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease D015658:HIV Infections D006526:Hepatitis C D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide D043885:Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB2 D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities
cannabinoid receptor cannabinoid receptor 2 HIV/hepatitis C virus coinfection endocannabinoids liver biopsy liver histology liver steatosis