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GIUSEPPINA CANDORE

Distribution of KIR Genes and Their HLA Ligands in Different Viral Infectious Diseases: Frequency Study in Sicilian Population

  • Authors: Ligotti, Mattia Emanuela; Aiello, Anna; Accardi, Giulia; Calabrò, Anna; Ciaccio, Marcello; Colomba, Claudia; Di Bona, Danilo; Lo Sasso, Bruna; Pojero, Fanny; Tuttolomondo, Antonino; Caruso, Calogero; Candore, Giuseppina; Duro, Giovanni
  • Publication year: 2022
  • Type: Articolo in rivista
  • OA Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10447/577748

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells play a role in defence against viral infections by killing infected cells or by producing cytokines and interacting with adaptive immune cells. Killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) regulate the activation of NK cells through their interaction with human leucocyte antigens (HLA). Ninety-six Sicilian patients positive to Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV) and ninety-two Sicilian patients positive to SARS-CoV-2 were genotyped for KIRs and their HLA ligands. We also included fifty-six Sicilian patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) already recruited in our previous study. The aim of this study was to compare the distribution of KIR-HLA genes/groups of these three different infected populations with healthy Sicilian donors from the literature. We showed that the inhibitory KIR3DL1 gene and the KIR3DL1/HLA-B Bw4 pairing were more prevalent in individual CHB. At the same time, the frequency of HLA-C2 was increased in CHB compared to other groups. In contrast, the HLA-C1 ligand seems to have no contribution to CHB progression whereas it was significantly higher in COVID-19 and HIV-positive than healthy controls. These results suggest that specific KIR-HLA combinations can predict the outcome/susceptibility of these viral infections and allows to plan successful customized therapeutic strategies.