Study of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor genes and HLA C ligands in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation pairs in Vojvodina

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyse KIR/HLA profiles and to create the predictive probabilities for the selection of the most suitable Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) donor. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 92 patients with malignant hematological deseases and 181 their first degree relatives, from the region of Vojvodina. HLA and KIR genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) assay. The analysis included the degree of HLA matching between transplant pairs, number of missing ligands for inhibitory KIR genes, existence of GvH / HvG ligand-ligand mismatches (specific for C1, C2 or Bw4 ligands) and distribution of C1/C1, C1/C2, C2/C2 HLA ligand groups in patients. Results: There was no significant differences in HLA frequencies between donors and recipients as analyzed by pairwise comparison, the probability of finding HLA identical donor is only 0.154, the probability of finding the donor with ≥ 1 KIR-ligand mismatch is 0.939, the probability of finding the donor with KIR-ligand mismatch for the KIR 2DL1 gene is 0.298, probability of having favorable C1/C1 and C2/C2 HLA ligand groups is 0.565. Conclusion: The results of our study could be used as a basis for the HSCT outcome prediction representing a powerful tool for choosing the most suitable donor.