biostudies-literatureMcLaren PJSwiss National Science FoundationNIAID NIH HHSMedical Research CouncilNHLBI NIH HHSNHGRI NIH HHSNCI NIH HHSWellcome Trust1025-1030https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10848312biostudies-literatureUnknown620(7976)HIV-1 remains a global health crisis¹, highlighting the need to identify new targets for therapies. Here, given the disproportionate HIV-1 burden and marked human genome diversity in Africa², we assessed the genetic determinants of control of set-point viral load in 3,879 people of African ancestries living with HIV-1 participating in the international collaboration for the genomics of HIV³. We identify a previously undescribed association signal on chromosome 1 where the peak variant associates with an approximately 0.3 log₁₀-transformed copies per ml lower set-point viral load per minor allele copy and is specific to populations of African descent. The top associated variant is intergenic and lies between a long intergenic non-coding RNA (LINC0NatureAfrica-specific human genetic variation near CHD1L associates with HIV-1 load.PMC10848312MR/N02043X/1UM1 AI068634MR/S009752/1U54 AI170792UM1 AI06863675N91019D00024U01 AI035039U01 HL146208201369220740/Z/20/ZU01 HL146240U01 HL146201U01 HL146333MC_UU_00033/1R01 AI165236U24 HG006941197721MC_UU_00033/3P30 AI117943Kilembe WBassett ASkarnes WCWolinsky SMHerbeck JTPorter TTheodorou IKaleebu PKral AHIaconis GMullins JIFatumo STrkola AHaas DWAngelino PSimons LMDe Luca ALever AMLJarvis IKootstra NAGoedert JJBartha IWinkler CARauch AKiar CSCarrington MMeyer LWalter MMiro JMPirie FMok HPKim EYBashirova ADougan GMallal SJohnson EOMukhopadhyay SGurdasani DThorball CWWalker BDMontgomery SBGoldstein DBMcLaren PJZagury JFMoodley PCossarizza APoli GFellay JPrice MAKarakoc ENam KMartinez-Picado JTough RHTuff JFHultquist JFCiuffi AObel NCristinelli SLambotte OKirk GDMotala AAPlummer FAPomilla CDeGorter MKLuo MSandhu MSSathya Moorthy MPBuchbinder SGroom HPorreca ICarstensen TfalseAfrica-specific human genetic variation near CHD1L associates with HIV-1 load.HIV-1 remains a global health crisis¹, highlighting the need to identify new targets for therapies. Here, given the disproportionate HIV-1 burden and marked human genome diversity in Africa², we assessed the genetic determinants of control of set-point viral load in 3,879 people of African ancestries living with HIV-1 participating in the international collaboration for the genomics of HIV³. We identify a previously undescribed association signal on chromosome 1 where the peak variant associates with an approximately 0.3 log₁₀-transformed copies per ml lower set-point viral load per minor allele copy and is specific to populations of African descent. The top associated variant is intergenic and lies between a long intergenic non-coding RNA (LINC02023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Aug2026-03-17T15:20:54.441Z2025-02-18T23:24:25.587ZS-EPMC108483123753292810.1038/s41586-023-06370-4