Pregnant women have abundant natural killer (NK) cells in their placenta, and NK cell function is regulated by polymorphisms of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). Previous studies report different roles of NK cells in the immune responses to placental malaria (PM) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infections. Given these references, the aim of this study was to determine t...

Background The extreme variability at the Killer cell Immunoglobulin like Receptor (KIR) expressed on the surface of natural killer cells interacts with Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Class I appear to play a crucial role in the outcome against viral infection. The combination of HLA/KIR gene products either individually or collectively have been implicated in the control of HIV-1 in various pop...

Combinations of HLA and killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes have been associated with diseases as diverse as autoimmunity, viral infections, reproductive failure, and now cancer. Much as early observations of disease associations with HLA polymorphism preceded a detailed knowledge of HLA recognition by T cell receptors, the recently reported disease associations with HLA-KIR ge...

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to explore whether killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genotypes and haplotypes are associated with dry eye disease (DED) in a Han Chinese population. METHODS Polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) method was used to genotype KIR genes in 106 patients with DED and 220 healthy controls. RESULTS Twenty-three KIR genotyp...

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...

diversification Host-pathogen interactions constitute a constant, long-term evolutionary arms race. This arms race is described as a competition between high rates of mutation and/or variation in microbes with short generation times versus long-lived hosts with corresponding low mutation rates (Haldane, 1949). This conflict is based on the relatively frequent appearance of new pathogen variants...

ATP-sensitive potassium channels are an octomeric complex of four pore-forming subunits of the Kir 6.0 family and four sulfonylurea receptors. The Kir 6.0 family consists of two known members, Kir 6.1 and Kir 6.2, with distinct functional properties. The tetrameric structure of the pore-forming domain leads to the possibility that mixed heteromultimers may form. In this study, we examine this b...

Killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) regulate cell activity of natural killer (NK) cells and some T cells. The predominant ligand for inhibitory KIRs is HLA-C, which subdivides into 2 groups based on the specificity of inhibitory KIRs. The ligands for activatory KIRs are unknown. Following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), recipient tissues may not express a ligand for KIRs...

Posttransplantation non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a life-threatening complication after transplantation. Although pharmacologically suppressed adaptive immunity plays a major role in its development, the role of innate immunity in posttransplantation lymphoma is unknown. We assessed the 158 V/F polymorphism in the Fc-gamma receptor 3A gene (FCGR3A), killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) geno...

BACKGROUND Natural killer (NK) cells have emerged as pivotal players in innate immunity, especially in the defense against viral infections and tumors. Killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs)--an important recognition receptor expressed on the surface of NK cells--regulate the inhibition and/or activation of NK cells after interacting with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I ligands. Vari...