The activating killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors as important determinants of acute graft-versus host disease in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for acute myelogenous leukemia.
BACKGROUND
We investigated the influence of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes, based on the genotypes of inhibitory or activating KIR, in stem cell recipients with acute myelogenous leukemia and their human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling donors on acute graft-versus host disease (GVHD) after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.


METHODS
We studied 53 consecutive donor-recipient pairs to determine the impact of KIR genotypes and their bidirectional KIR interactions.


RESULTS
All activating KIR genes in donors were important factors for determining outcome in a manner distinctive for each gene studied. Specifically, the 2DS2 gene and the 2DS4*003 allele were closely correlated with acute GVHD. The 2DS1 gene was associated with a better long-term survival, even if present only in the donor and not the recipient. The 2DS3-2DS5 dual genes were more often involved in a variety of transplant-related complications.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, these factors may help predict transplant outcomes and aid in our understanding of immunogenetic specificity.
Kim
Hee-Je
HJ
Catholic Hemopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Center, Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Choi
Young
Y
Min
Woo-Sung
WS
Kim
Tai-Gyu
TG
Cho
Byung-Sik
BS
Kim
Sung-Yong
SY
Eom
Ki-Sung
KS
Lee
Seok
S
Min
Chang-Ki
CK
Cho
Seok-Goo
SG
Kim
Dong-Wook
DW
Lee
Jong-Wook
JW
Kim
Chun-Choo
CC
D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006085:Graft Survival; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000628:therapy*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D054340:Receptors, KIR / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D035781:Siblings; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D054340:Receptors, KIR