Identification of bovine leukocyte antigen class II haplotypes associated with variations in bovine leukemia virus proviral load in Japanese Black cattle

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is the etiological agent of enzootic bovine leukosis, which is the most common neoplastic disease of cattle. Bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA) is strongly involved in the subclinical progression of BLV infections. Recent studies show that the BoLA-DRB3 gene might play a direct role in controlling the number of BLV-infected peripheral B lymphocytes in vivo in Holstein cattle. However, the specific BoLA class II allele and DRB3-DQA1 haplotypes determining the BLV proviral load in Japanese Black cattle are yet to be identified. In this study, we focused on the association of BLV proviral load and polymorphism of BoLA class II in Japanese Black cattle. We genotyped 186 BLV-infected, clinically normal cattle for BoLA-DRB3 and BoLA-DQA1 using a polymerase chain reaction-sequence-based typing method. BoLA-DRB3*0902 and BoLA-DRB3*1101 were associated with a low proviral load (LPVL), and BoLA-DRB3*1601 was associated with a high proviral load (HPVL). Furthermore, BoLA-DQA1*0204 and BoLA-DQA1*10012 were related to LPVL and HPVL, respectively. Furthermore, we confirmed the correlation between the DRB3-DQA1 haplotype and BLV proviral load. Two haplotypes, namely 0902B or C (DRB3*0902-DQA1*0204) and 1101A (DRB3*1101-DQA1*10011), were associated with a low BLV proviral load, whereas one haplotype 1601B (DRB3*1601-DQA1*10012) was associated with a high BLV proviral load. We conclude that resistance is a dominant trait and susceptibility is a recessive trait. Additionally, resistant alleles were common between Japanese Black and Holstein cattle, and susceptible alleles differed. This is the first report to identify an association between the DRB3-DQA1 haplotype and variations in BLV proviral load.