Abstract
The NK cell receptor, killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR), recognizes an epitope on HLA class I antigens called KIR-ligand specificity and regulates the response of NK cells. The KIR-ligand compatibility from donors of unrelated bone marrow transplantation was retrospectively analyzed and their influences on the transplantation outcomes were evaluated. The KIR ligand incompatibility was mostly disadvantageous for the transplantation outcomes in conventional (non-T cell-depleted), unrelated bone marrow transplantations. On the other hand, KIR-ligand incompatibility was demonstrated to be associated with an improved outcome of related, T cell-depleted, CD34-positive cell-selected, HLA haplo-identical peripheral blood stem cell transplantations. The effects of NK cell alloreactivity on the GVHD were varied in different regimens of hematopoietic stem cell transplantations.
