title: Killer cell inhibitory receptors involved in graft-versus-host disease and graft-versus-leukemia effect in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation - review.
abstract: Killer cell inhibitory receptors (KIR) are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily (Ig-SF) and transmembrane molecules type I expressed on human natural killer cells and some T lymphocytes. They are ligands for HLA class I antigens. According to the "missing-self" hypothesis, KIR deliver inhibitory signals that prevent target-cell lysis upon binding to the self MHC class I antigens. KIR regulates NK cell function concerned with the control graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The KIR repertoire is substantially influenced by the polymorphic and polygeneic nature of the KIR gene family, and there exist the polymorphism of KIR ligands mainly HLA-C molecule. So it is difficult to achieve the beneficial effect of NK cells on the outcome of partly HLA-mismatched hematopoietic cell transplantation. This review aims to provide background and previous observations on the KIRs which are thought to influence the outcome of HSCT.
authors.affiliation: Center of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510120, China. chenchun2002@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shao-Liang
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000209:etiology*; D020544:Graft vs Leukemia Effect; D015236:HLA-C Antigens / Q000502:physiology; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D054340:Receptors, KIR; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D015236:HLA-C Antigens; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; D054340:Receptors, KIR