02202nas a2200301   4500000000100000008004100001653001300042653001400055653001200069653001100081100001400092700001300106700002100119700001300140700001500153700002200168700001200190700001100202700001300213700002600226700002000252245014400272856006600416300000800482490000700490520138900497022001401886       2014                            d10aNK cells10aKIR genes10aleprosy10aBrazil1 aJarduli L1 aAlves HV1 aSouza-Santana FC1 aMarcos E1 aPereira AC1 aDias-Baptista IMF1 aFava VM1 aMira M1 aMoraes M1 aCunha Lopes Virmond M1 aVisentainer JEL00aInfluence of KIR genes and their HLA ligands in the pathogenesis of leprosy in a hyperendemic population of Rondonópolis, Southern Brazil.  uhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2334-14-438.pdf  a4380 v143 a<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>  a1471-2334