Table 2.

Epidemiological evidence for iron and oxygen pathways effect on HIV-1.

Epidemiological evidence	Hypothesized mechanism	HIV-1 related consequence	Ref.
Thalassemia major, oral iron administration, haptoglobin 2–2 polymorphism	↑ Iron, ↑ ferritin	↑ Mortality	[2]
Zimbabwe HIV cohort	↑ Ferritin	↑ HIV-1 infection	[7]
Gambian HIV cohort	↑ Iron, ↑ ferritin	↑ Mortality	[8]
SLC11A1 (NRAMP1) polymorphisms	↑ ↓ Ferritin	↑ ↓ Mortality	[9]
Sickle cell disease	↑ Hemolysis	↓ HIV-1 infection; ↓ HIV-1 progression	[107,108,111]
Sickle cell disease	↑ HO-1, ↑ p21	Unknown	[113]
Gambian HIV cohort	↑ Iron, ↑ ferritin	↑ Mortality	[8]
HIV-1 elite controllers	↑ p21, ↓ CDK9 activity	↓ HIV-1 progression	[74]