We identified novel genetic loci that may be associated with the clinical course of HIV-1 infection in the ACS. None of the associations between SNPs and time to AIDS or time to AIDS-related death that ranked in the top 10, were genome-wide significant. Interestingly, the majority of the SNPs involved were also associated with other phenotypes that are related to HIV-1 infection, such as set-point viral load, although one could argue that those are not independent phenotypes. Furthermore, three independent signals that ranked in the top 10 for associations with time to AIDS, and one SNP from the top 10 associations with time to AIDS-related death, were also associated with disease course in the GRIV cohort of HIV-1 infected individuals, with the same effect of the minor allele on disease progression. This independent confirmation is evidence for an actual association between the identified gene regions and HIV-1 disease course, and not a statistical artifact.
