Killer immunoglobulin-like receptor and cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in defense against tumor cells. The development and function of NK cells is governed by a dynamic balance between inhibition and activation of cell surface receptors, including KIR receptors.Patients and method: A case-control study is carried out that compares a group of 46 children diagnosed with malignant diseases, the control group is made up of 82 healthy children. KIRs genes, haplotypes and ligands were determined and compared between groups.Results: There are no differences in KIRs genes, KIRs haplotypes or in KIRs gene ligands between groups. However, when KIRS and ligands were jointly studied, k2DS1 C2 was significantly higher in the group of cancer children (p = 0.016).Conclusions: Our results do not provide evidence of an association between pediatric cancer disease with genotypes and groups of genes KIRs. The k2DS1 C2 genotype could predispose to susceptibility to malignant processes in children. (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. on behalf of Asociacion Espanola de Pediatria. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).