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Association of interleukin-8 gene polymorphisms in HIV patients with opportunistic infections in Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Opportunistic infections (OIs) are common among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients; however, genetic susceptibility to these infections has not been studied. Recent studies have shown that interleukin-8 (IL-8) A/T genotype carriers are more susceptible to a variety of diseases. In this study, we showed the effects of IL-8 gene polymorphisms on OIs and symptoms such as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), tuberculosis (TB), diarrhea, shortness of breath, weight loss, and viral load, in HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients. Genomic DNA was purified from mouthwash samples collected from patients attending HIV centers in the Vhembe district. The IL-8 (-251) A/T locus was genotyped using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction followed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The results showed a weak association between the IL-8 AA genotype and OIs such as STDs (P = 0.143), diarrhea (P = 0.906), and TB (P = 0.762). Significant associations were found between the IL-8 AT genotype and weight loss (P = 0.019), shortness of breath (P = 0.043), and skin problems (P = 0.003). Low viral load was also found to be significantly associated with IL-8 AA genotype (P = 0.009). The present study suggests that different IL-8 genotypes are associated with resistance to various OIs. However, further studies using larger samples sizes are needed to confirm this hypothesis.