HIV-1 evades a Gag mutation that abrogates killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor binding and disinhibits natural killer cells in infected individuals with KIR2DL2+/HLA-C∗03:04+ genotype

HIV-1 sequence variations impact binding of inhibitory killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) to human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) molecules modulating natural killer cell function. HIV-1 strains encoding amino acids that mediate binding of inhibitory KIRs might therefore have a selective benefit in individuals expressing the respective KIR/HLA genotypes. Here, we demonstrate that HIV-1 clade C avoids a p24 Gag mutation that abolishes binding of KIR2DL2 to HLA-C03:04 and disinhibits natural killer cells in individual encoding for this genotype.