title: Association between killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor genotypes and leprosy in Brazil.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes in leprosy immunopathogenesis. Genotyping of KIR and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes was performed by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes in 165 leprosy patients. Both activating KIR2DS2 and KIR2DS3 frequencies were higher in tuberculoid leprosy (TT) patients than in lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients, and the inhibitory KIR with its ligand, KIR2DL1-C2/C2, was elevated in TT patients in comparison to all other leprosy subgroups and controls. However, a negative association between KIR2DL3-C1 and KIR2DL3-C1/C1 and the TT group was identified. Borderline patients exhibited a higher frequency of KIR3DL2-A3/11 than the controls and LL patients, and a lower frequency of KIR2DL1-C2 than the controls and TT subgroup. Some KIR-HLA genotypes could be associated to the development of clinical forms of leprosy and should be investigated further.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Imunogenética, Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Brazil.
authors.forename: D S A
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Mazini
authors.forename: C C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Rudnick
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sell
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Tsuneto
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: de Melo
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Braga
authors.forename: P R F
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Peixoto
authors.forename: J E L
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Visentainer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054340:Receptors, KIR / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D054340:Receptors, KIR