Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor Genes Distribution in Southeastern Anatolia Population in Turkey.

Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) molecules on the surface of Natural Killer cells HLA class I by interacting directly with their molecules, they cause inhibition or triggering of cytokine synthesis. The KIR gene family, plays an important role in the regulation of the immune response, is located in the 19q13.4 region in humans and consists of 15 homologous genes. Inhibitory KIR (iKIR) genes are 2DL1, 2DL2, 2DL3, 2DL4, 2DL5, 3DL1, 3DL2, 3DL3, activating KIR (aKIR) genes are KIR2DS1, KIR2DS2, KIR2DS3, KIR2DS4, KIR2DS5, KIR3DS1; two KIR pseudogenes are KIR2DP1 and KIR3DP1. There is not enough data on the KIR gene profile of the Turkish population. It was aimed to determine the genotype distrubition of KIR2DS1, KIR2DS2, KIR2DS3, KIR2DS4, KIR2DS5, KIR3DS1, KIR2DL1-5, KIR3DL1-3) genes in the Southeastern Anatolia Region (SAR). In the present study 200 unrelated healthy individuals were included. Polymerase-chain reaction with sequence-specific primers method (PCR-SSP) were performed. 3DL3 had the highest (99.5%) frequency and the lowest frequency among the inhibitory KIR genes was obtained for 2DL2 (56.5%). The highest frequency among the activator KIR genes was obtained for 2DS4 (93.5%) and the lowest was for 2DS5 (28%). It can be concluded that the SAR population has similar KIR gene features to the Caucasians. But studies with more extensive sample groups are needed to understand the relationship between KIR gene distribution and similarities between populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]