Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor genotyping and HLA killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor-ligand identification by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

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Date
2011Author
Hong, H. A.
Loubser, A. S.
de Assis Rosa, Debra.
Naranbhai, Vivek.
Carr, William Henry.
Paximadis, Maria.
Lewis, David A.
Tiemessen, Caroline T.
Gray, Clive M.
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The effector function of natural killer (NK) cells is modulated by surface expression of a range of killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) that interact with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I ligands. We describe the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays that allow easy and quick detection of 16 KIR genes and the presence/absence of KIR-ligands based on allelic discrimination at codon 80 in the HLA-A/B Bw4 and HLA-C C1/C2 genes. These methods overcome the tedious and expensive nature of conventional KIR genotyping and HLA class I typing using sequence-specific primer (SSP) PCR, sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO) hybridization or sequence-based typing (SBT). Using these two cost-effective assays, we measured the frequencies of KIRs, KIR-ligands and KIR/KIR-ligand pairs in a cohort of Black women recruited in South Africa.