Genetic and statistical study of HIV integration in the human genome

This work was partially supported by CIGMH (FCM/UNL), PEST-OE/SAU/UI0009/2011 and CMA/FCT/UNL, under the project PEst-OE/MAT/UI0297/2011. Integration of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) DNA into human genome is essential for HIV-induced disease. The human genome is organized into chromosomes and within these we can define the chromosomal fragile sites. Our aim is to contribute to help clarifying the integration sites preferences of HIV1 and HIV2 in fragile or non-fragile regions. Here we apply statistical techniques, namely non-parametric tests and analysis of variance for analyzing two sets of data of HIV1 and HIV2 integrations in the human genome. The results show that the integrations occur significantly with more intensity in the non-fragile regions of the human genome and that the HIV1 in particular has the major contribution to this fact. This study could have implications in human disease. publishersversion published