title: The role of killer immunoglobulin-like receptor haplotypes on the outcome of unrelated donor haematopoietic SCT for thalassaemia.
abstract: Recent insight into the pathophysiology of acute GVHD after allogeneic haematopoietic SCT has led to a growing interest in the role of natural killer (NK) cells. NK cell cytotoxicity is mainly regulated by the interaction of activating and inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) with their respective ligands. To investigate the impact of KIRs and their ligands on haematopoietic SCT outcome, we performed a retrospective study of 78 transfusion-dependent thalassaemia patients (median age 10 years, range 1-29 years) transplanted from an unrelated donor selected using high-resolution molecular typing for both class I and II loci after a myeloablative conditioning regimen. GVHD prophylaxis consisted of CsA, short-term MTX and anti-thymocyte globulin in all patients. We found that patients transplanted from donors homozygous for KIR haplotype A had a greater risk of developing grade II-IV acute GVHD compared with those transplanted from a donor carrying at least one B haplotype (hazard ratio=4.5, 99% confidence interval=1.2-17.1, P=0.003). Our study suggests that KIR genotyping of donor and recipient pairs could contribute to the identification of patients at high risk for developing severe complications of haematopoietic SCT and thus may help with the choice of intensity of GVHD prophylaxis.
authors.affiliation: Centro Regionale Trapianti, Ospedale R. Binaghi-ASL Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Littera
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Orrù
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vacca
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertaina
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caocci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mulargia
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giardini
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piras
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mastronuzzi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vinti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Orrù
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Locatelli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carcassi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: La Nasa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology; D006239:Haplotypes; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D054340:Receptors, KIR / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000276:immunology / Q000601:surgery*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D054340:Receptors, KIR