Biomedical Sciences Program, Graduate School, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
Immunogenetics. 2013 Sep;65(9):645-53. doi: 10.1007/s00251-013-0716-7. Epub 2013 Jun 29.
Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are cell surface receptors on natural killer (NK) cells and subsets of T cells. The functions of NK cells are partly regulated by interactions between KIRs and HLA ligands on target cells. In this study, the presence or absence of 17 KIR genes and their known HLA ligands have been investigated in 235 unrelated individuals living in northeastern Thailand (NET). Subtypes of KIR2DS4 including full length (KIR2DS4F) and deleted forms (KIR2DS4D) have also been determined. Framework genes (KIR2DL4, 3DL2, 3DL3, and 3DP1) were found in all individuals and KIR genes belonging to the A haplotype (KIR2DL1, 2DL3, 3DL1, and 2DS4) were present in more than 90% of NET. KIR2DS4D (61.7%) was more common than KIR2DS4F (52.8%). A total of 33 different KIR genotypes were observed. Of these, three new genotypes were identified. The most common genotype (AA) was observed in 35.7% of NET, and HLA-C alleles bearing the C1 epitope (HLA-C1) had the highest frequency (97%). All individuals had at least one inhibitory KIR and its corresponding HLA ligand; 40.9% of NET had three pairs of receptor-ligand combinations, and 18.3% had all three receptor-ligand combinations of KIR2DL3+C1, 3DL1+Bw4, and 3DL2+A11. Surprisingly, the patterns of KIR gene frequencies in NET are more similar to those of Caucasians than Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. This is the first report on complete analysis of KIR and known HLA ligands in Thais. These data provide basic knowledge on KIR for further studies on disease associations and transplantation in northeastern Thais.
杀伤细胞免疫球蛋白样受体 (KIRs) 是自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞和 T 细胞亚群表面的受体。NK 细胞的功能部分受 KIR 与靶细胞上 HLA 配体之间相互作用的调节。在这项研究中，对生活在泰国东北部 (NET) 的 235 名无关个体进行了 17 种 KIR 基因及其已知 HLA 配体的存在或缺失检测。还确定了 KIR2DS4 的亚型，包括全长 (KIR2DS4F) 和缺失形式 (KIR2DS4D)。所有个体均存在框架基因 (KIR2DL4、3DL2、3DL3 和 3DP1)，属于 A 单倍型的 KIR 基因 (KIR2DL1、2DL3、3DL1 和 2DS4) 在超过 90%的 NET 中存在。KIR2DS4D(61.7%)比 KIR2DS4F(52.8%)更为常见。共观察到 33 种不同的 KIR 基因型，其中鉴定出 3 种新基因型。最常见的基因型 (AA) 在 NET 中占 35.7%，具有 C1 表位的 HLA-C 等位基因 (HLA-C1) 出现频率最高 (97%)。所有个体至少有一种抑制性 KIR 及其相应的 HLA 配体；NET 中有 40.9%的个体具有三对受体-配体组合，18.3%的个体具有 KIR2DL3+C1、3DL1+Bw4 和 3DL2+A11 的全部三种受体-配体组合。令人惊讶的是，NET 中 KIR 基因频率的模式与高加索人更为相似，而与日本人、韩国人和中国人的模式不同。这是首次报道泰国人 KIR 和已知 HLA 配体的完整分析。这些数据为进一步研究泰国东北部地区的疾病关联和移植提供了 KIR 的基础知识。
