Aleksandar Petlichkovski1, Zvonko Milenkovic3, Eli
Djulejic3, Bisera Jefremovska1, Haris Babacic1,
Ljubomir Ivanovski2, Irena Kondova Topuzovska2,
Katerina Spasovska2, Mirko Spiroski1*
1Institute of Immunobiology and Human Genetics, Faculty of
Medicine, University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”, Skopje, Republic of
Macedonia; 2University Clinic of Infective Diseases, Faculty of
Medicine, University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”, Skopje, Republic of
Macedonia; 3Quintiles, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia
Background: Infection by the pandemic influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 virus
results in significant pathology disease in many cases in different
populations worldwide. The natural killer (NK) cells are among the major
effectors important in early innate immune responses to viral infections,
interacting with host cells through their activating or inhibiting
receptors.
Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze Killer Ig-Like Receptor (KIR)
gene polymorphisms in critically ill Macedonian patients with pandemic
influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 infection.
Material and Methods: The studied sample consists of 63 critically
ill Macedonian patients with pandemic influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 infection. The
population genetics analysis package, Arlequin, was used for analysis of the
data.
Results: We found that all 16 KIR genes were observed in the
studied individuals and framework genes (KIR3DL3, KIR3DP1, KIR2DL4,
and KIR3DL2) were present in all individuals. The results of tested
linkage disequilibrium (LD) among KIR genes demonstrated that KIR
genes present a wide range of linkage disequilibrium. Comparison of KIR
gene frequencies between critically ill H1N1/09 Macedonian patients and
healthy subjects reveals statistically significant difference for frequency
of KIR2DL1 (F=1 in the patients group, and 0.94 in the control group,
p=0.045).
Conclusion: We did not found any significant association of all 16
KIR genes or KIR genotypes with critically ill (H1N1)pdm09
Macedonian patients, except for the KIR2DL1.
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Citation: Petlichkovski A, Milenkovic Z, Djulejic E, Jefremovska B,
Babacic H, Ivanovski LJ, Kondova Topuzovska I, Spasovska K, Spiroski M.
Association of Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor Genes with Pandemic
Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 Infection in Critically Ill Macedonian Patients.
Maced J Med Sci. 2012 Oct 15; 5(3):288-295. http://dx.doi.org/10.3889/MJMS.1857-5773.2012.0265.
Key words: Killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) gene polymorphism; KIR
genotyping; PCR-SSP; patients with (H1N1)pdm09 infection; Republic of
Macedonia.
Correspondence: Mirko Spiroski, MD, PhD. Institute of Immunobiology
and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, 1109 Skopje, PO Box 60, Republic of
Macedonia. Phone: +389 2 3110556. E-mail: mspiroski@yahoo.com
Received: 11-Apr-2012; Revised: 04-Aug-2012; Accepted: 19-Sep-2012; Online
first: 03-Oct-2012
Copyright: © 2012 Petlichkovski A. This is an open access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing
interests exist.
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