Abstract Background CCR5-delta32 heterozygous individuals are susceptible to HIV-1. However, it is not clear if there is a relevant protective effect against transmission and a beneficial effect in terms of HIV progression which cannot be attributed to CCR5 surface density alone. Therefore we investigated HIV-1 dependency factors (HDF) which might be differently regulated in CCR5 wild type (WT) and CCR5-delta32 heterozygous individuals. Methods We examined CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells derived from bone marrow samples from 19 healthy volunteers, 12 individuals with CCR5 WT and 7 with heterozygous CCR5-delta32 deletion. Samples were analyzed using a global gene expression oligonucleotide microarray (HG-U133plus 2.0, Affymetrix Inc.). Results A total of 205 genes were found with altered expression (3fold difference, present call rate of 75%, p