Killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIRs) regulate the function of human natural killer and T cell subsets. A feature of the KIR locus is the clustering of homologous genes encoding for inhibitory and activating KIR. Inhibitory and activating KIR differ for ligand specificities and/or affinities. In particular, we show here with KIR tetramers that activating KIR2DS2 does not bind HLA-Cw3 molecules r...

Killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) bind self-major histocompatibility complex class I molecules, allowing natural killer (NK) cells to recognize aberrant cells that have down-regulated class I. NK cells express variable numbers and combinations of highly homologous clonally restricted KIR genes, but uniformly express KIR2DL4. We show that NK clones express both 2DL4 alleles and either o...

Besides donor T cells, natural killer (NK) cells are considered to have a major role in preventing relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). After T-cell-depleted haploidentical HSCT, a strong NK alloreactivity has been described. These effects have been attributed to killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR). Abundant reports suggest a major role of KIR not...

Hypercholesterolemia is an independent risk factor for development of cardiovascular disease1 and has been demonstrated to impair endothelium-dependent and independent vasodilatation.2 However, the mechanisms responsible for changes in vascular reactivity and impaired blood flow regulation induced by hypercholesterolemia remain unclear. Previous studies in cultured endothelial cells have shown ...

It has been established that hematopoietic chimerism after double umbilical cord blood transplantation (dUCBT) can predict disease relapse and detect potential engraftment failure. The use of a precise method to evaluate residual host hematopoiesis is imperative because it has been reported that the risk of relapse is higher in patients with mixed chimerism. Up to now, real-time quantitative po...

Through recognition of HLA class I, killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIR) modulate NK cell functions in human immunity and reproduction. Although a minority of HLA-A and -B allotypes are KIR ligands, HLA-C allotypes dominate this regulation, because they all carry either the C1 epitope recognized by KIR2DL2/3 or the C2 epitope recognized by KIR2DL1. The C1 epitope and C1-specific KIR evolved firs...

Inhibitory killer immunoglobulin (Ig)-like receptors (KIRs) recognize HLA-C and -B epitopes on target cells, thereby regulating natural killer (NK) cell activity. In 178 patients receiving T-cell-depleted HLA-identical sibling transplants for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), analysis of d...

Killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIRs) interact with HLA class I ligands to regulate NK cell development and function. These interactions affect the outcome of unrelated donor hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). We have shown previously that donors with KIR B versus KIR A haplotypes improve the clinical outcome for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia by reducing the incidence of leukem...

Killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are involved in the regulation of natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Within the human genome seventeen KIR genes are present, which all contain a large number of allelic variants. The high level of homology among KIR genes has hampered KIR genotyping in larger cohorts, and determination of gene copy number variation (CNV) has been difficult. We have de...

Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) regulate the effector function of natural killer (NK) cells and the subset of T cells with memory phenotype. The number and type of genes that encode KIR receptors substantially varied between individuals and between populations. Specific KIR receptors are known to be associated with certain diseases. The present study was undertaken to investigat...