Journal
SEMINARS IN IMMUNOLOGY
Volume 20, Issue 6, Pages 343-352Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.smim.2008.06.003
Keywords
KIR; HLA; Natural killer cells; Disease associations
Categories
Funding
- National Cancer Institute
- National Institutes of Health [N01-CO-12400]
- Center for Cancer Research
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Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) are expressed on natural killer (NK) cells and subsets of T cells. The KIR genes are polymorphic and the KIR gene complex is polygenic with varying numbers of inhibitory and activating receptors. HLA class I molecules serve as ligands for the KIR. Interactions of the independently segregating KIR and HLA loci are important for recognition of targets by NK cells as well as NK cell 'licensing'. Several disease association studies indicate a role for interactions between these loci in infectious diseases, autoimmune/inflammatory disorders, cancer and reproduction. Emerging functional data supports a mechanism based on a continuum of inhibition to activation through various compound KIR-HIA genotypes in diseases. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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