title: An improved RT-PCR method for the detection of killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) transcripts.
abstract: Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are expressed on human natural killer (NK) cells and a proportion of T cells. As the specificity of these NK and T cells is, at least in part, determined by the combination of KIRs they express, it is important to be able to determine the KIR expression pattern of NK and T cell clones to understand their function. However, for most KIR genes, specific reagents to detect expression are currently either unavailable or sensitive to allelic variations. In this study, a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) that uses new primer sets for the gene-specific detection of KIR transcripts is presented and validated. The key advantage of this RT-PCR method over previously published ones is that it was designed to detect transcripts of all confirmed allelic variants of the KIR genes, while remaining gene-specific.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunmohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: van der Slik
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Koning
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Bergen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000235:genetics*; D054340:Receptors, KIR; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; D054340:Receptors, KIR