Evaluation of telomeric KIR genes and their association with CMV infection in kidney transplant recipients

AbstractCytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a common complication after organ transplantation. Despite the  immunosuppressed state, natural killer (NK) cells remain the major immune defense cells against viral infections in transplanted patients. The present study aimed at elucidating the correlation between the number of inhibitory and activating genes and the incidence of CMV infection in kidney trans planted recipients. Kidney transplanted recipients including 51 CMV+ and 50 CMV− were genotyped for the presence or absence of 4 activating (KIR2DS1,KIR2DS4,KIR2DS5,KIR3DS1) and 2 inhibitory (KIR3DL1,KIR2DL5a) genes using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) assay. Our results showed that CMV infection occurred in 50.49% of kidney allograft recipients. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the presence of the  KIR2DS1 activating  gene in the CMV− group compared to the CMV+ group (p = 0.033). The other three activating KIR receptors did not show a correlation with CMV infection. Our results suggest that the prevalence of theKIR activatingKIR2DS1 gene may reduce the  rate of CMV infection after kidney transplantation in our population.
Source: Immunogenetics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research