Analisys of polymorphism of KIR in patients with chronic C hepatitis. / Análise do polimorfismo do KIR em pacientes com hepatite crônica C submetidos à terapia antiviral.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

The treatment of chronic hepatitis C is carried out using different types of alpha interferon associated to ribavirin. Factors such as viral genotype, viral load and characteristics of the host are important in the success of the therapy. Factors associated to the host such as immunologic and genetic may also have an important role in the treatment of hepatitis C. The activation of the natural killer cells is very important to limit the viral replication in the liver. Therapy with interferon appears to be more effective in individuals with HCV infection in which NK cells are activated by this drug. The function of NK cells is regulated by a balance between the signals generated by its cellular receptors (KIR) of activation and the inhibition through the interaction with HLA class I molecules in the target cells. The aim of this study was to compare the frequency of KIR genes between patients with chronic HCV infection who had responded and those who had not responded to antiviral therapy, as well as between healthy individuals and those with chronic hepatitis C. A hundred and two healthy controls and eighty six patients with HCV were selected. Genotyping of the KIR was carried out using PCR-SSO kit (Kit One Lambda). We observed statistically significant differences for the genes KIR2DL5, KIR2DS3 between the groups of individuals who responded to treatment compared to those who did not respond. There was also a higher frequency of the receptor-ligand pair KIR2DL3/HLA-C1 in the group of responders compared to non-responders (p= 0,018). When the group of patients with chronic hepatitis C was compared to healthy blood donors it was found that the first one has a statistically significant higher frequency of the genes KIR2DL5, 2DS5 and 3DL3. Our data suggests the gene KIR2DL5 may play an important role in the response to antiviral therapy and in the predisposition to chronic HCV infection due to the inhibitory effect of NK cells. Nevertheless, more studies are necessary in order to prove this hypothesis. In addition, our study has found an association between the receptor-ligand pair KIR2DL3/HLA-C1 and the responseto HCV treatment, suggesting that weak affinity linkage between the inhibitory gene KIR2DL3 and its ligand HLAC1 can improve the performance of NK cells.

ASSUNTO(S)

polymorphism chronic hepatitis c imunologia polimorfismo kir hepatite c crônica kir

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