We observed higher frequency of <i>KIR A</i> homozygosity among 745 healthy Chinese Southern Han than 836 adult patients representing three types of leukemia: ALL (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.52-0.89, <i>p</i> = 0.004), AML (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.59-0.98, <i>p</i> = 0.034), and CML (OR = 0.72 95% CI = 0.51-1.0, ns).
Molecular identification of this ligand may lead to improved KIR-HLA mismatching in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation therapy for leukemia and new, more specific NK cell-based cancer therapies.
HLA expression on leukemia cells-upregulated in the post-HCT environment-signals for NK cell inhibition via inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like (KIR) receptors and interrupts their antitumor activity.
In addition, patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplants for leukemia may do better if their donor has more activating KIR genes (i.e., KIR haplotype-B).
The increased inhibitory KIR expression by proliferating CMV-specific CD8 T cells suggests regulatory interactions between HLA-C and KIR might promote Graft-versus-Leukemia effects following transplantation.
Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity overcomes NK cell resistance in MLL-rearranged leukemia expressing inhibitory KIR ligands but not activating ligands.
To investigate the association of KIR gene polymorphisms with subtypes of leukemia, we carried out the present study on 263 patients with leukemia and 239 healthy controls by means of polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primer and analysis, and then all data were analyzed by Logistic regression method.
The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of KIR genes and KIR ligands on leukemia free survival (LFS) and relapse rate in a well-defined, homogeneous group of CML patients phase upon HLA identical sibling SCT.
In this study, the association of KIR genes with acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) was investigated in 44 pairs of leukemia patients and their unrelated donors for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Low number of donor activating killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) genes but not KIR-ligand mismatch prevents relapse and improves disease-free survival in leukemia patients after in vivo T-cell depleted unrelated stem cell transplantation.