@article{25305,
  keywords = {NK cells, KIR genes, leprosy, Brazil},
  author = {Jarduli L and Alves HV and Souza-Santana FC and Marcos E and Pereira AC and Dias-Baptista IMF and Fava VM and Mira M and Moraes M and Cunha Lopes Virmond M and Visentainer JEL},
  title = {Influence of KIR genes and their HLA ligands in the pathogenesis of leprosy in a hyperendemic population of Rondonópolis, Southern Brazil.},
  abstract = {<p><b>BACKGROUND: </b>The objective of this study was to investigate the association between KIR genes and the immunopathogenesis of leprosy.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>The types of KIR and HLA genes were evaluated by PCR-SSOP-Luminex in 408 patients with leprosy and 413 healthy individuals. Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-square or Fisher's exact test and stepwise multivariate analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>There was a higher frequency of activating KIR genes (KIR2DS1, 2DS2 and 3DS1) together with their HLA ligands in the tuberculoid (TT) group as compared to the lepromatous leprosy (LL) group. KIR2DL2/2DL2-C1 was more frequent in the patient, TT and LL groups than in the control group. Borderline patients presented a higher frequency of inhibitory pairs when compared to the control group, and a higher frequency of activating pairs as compared to the LL group. Multivariate analysis confirmed the associations and demonstrated that being a female is a protective factor against the development of the disease per se and the more severe clinical form.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>This study showed that activating and inhibitory KIR genes may influence the development of leprosy - in particular, activating genes may protect against the more aggressive form of the disease - thereby demonstrating the role of NK cells in the immunopathology of the disease.</p>},
  year = {2014},
  journal = {BMC infectious diseases},
  volume = {14},
  pages = {438},
  issn = {1471-2334},
  url = {http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2334-14-438.pdf},
  doi = {10.1186/1471-2334-14-438},
  language = {eng},
}