For the 31st KIR Exchange, 4 DNA samples (KDNA#121-124) were shipped to participating laboratories on May 8, 2013. A total of 68 laboratories submitted their KIR typing results. The majority of the laboratories used either commercial or in-house developed sequence-specific primer (SSP) based PCR and sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe (SSOP) typing systems. The results for the 31st KIR Exch...

Inward rectifier potassium (Kir) channels are integral membrane proteins charged with a key role in establishing the resting membrane potential of excitable cells through selective control of the permeation of K(+) ions across cell membranes. In conjunction with secondary anionic phospholipids, members of this family are directly regulated by phosphoinositides (PIPs) in the absence of other pro...

The relevance of innate immune responses to Plasmodium falciparum infection, in particular the central role of natural killer (NK) cell-derived interferon gamma (IFN-γ), is becoming increasingly recognised. Recently, it has been shown that IFN-γ production in response to P. falciparum antigens is in part regulated by killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes, and a study from malaria...

The gene family of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) in primates provides the first line of defense against virus infection and tumor transformation. Interacting with MHC class I molecules, KIRs can regulate the cytotoxic activity of natural killer (NK) cells and distinguish the tumor and virus infected cells from normal body cells. Phylogenetic analysis and comparison of domain ...

Survival for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is limited by treatment-related mortality (TRM) and relapse after unrelated donor (URD) hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Natural killer (NK)-cell alloreactivity, determined by donor killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and recipient HLA, correlates with successful HCT for AML. Hypothesizing that donor KIR genotype (A/A...

It remains controversial whether alloreactive donor-derived natural killer (NK) cells display graft-versus-leukemia reactions after unmodified allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The present study evaluated the role of inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) ligand incompatibility using a well-defined and uniform setting of unmodified allogeneic HSCT in 374 p...

BACKGROUND Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are members of a group of regulatory molecules found on the natural killer (NK) cells that regulate NK cells function by interacting with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules or ligands. The effects of KIR genes on the outcome of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are still controversial. OBJECTIVE To inves...

Alloreactive natural killer (NK) cells are an important influence on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) outcome. In HLA-mismatched HSCT, alloreactivity occurs when licensed donor NK cells expressing inhibitory killer Ig-like receptors (KIR) for donor MHC class I ligands recognize the lack of the class I ligands in the mismatched recipient ("missing self"). Studies in HLA-matched HSC...

To investigate whether killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genetic background could influence the onset age of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, one hundred and seventy-one males with HBV-related HCC were enrolled. The presence of 12 loci of KIR was detected individually. HLA-A, -B, and -C loci were ge...

Natural killer (NK) cells are key members of innate immunity against tumor and infection. Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes regulates NK cell function, which varies substantially between individuals in the number and type. Specific KIRs are associated with certain diseases. Herein we investigated if KIR genes are associated with thyroid cancer risk. Eighty-five patients with ...