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Evaluation of telomeric KIR genes and their association with CMV infection in kidney transplant recipients

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Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a common complication after organ transplantation. Despite the immunosuppressed state, natural killer (NK) cells remain the major immune defense cells against viral infections in transplanted patients. The present study aimed at elucidating the correlation between the number of inhibitory and activating genes and the incidence of CMV infection in kidney transplanted recipients. Kidney transplanted recipients including 51 CMV+ and 50 CMV− were genotyped for the presence or absence of 4 activating (KIR2DS1, KIR2DS4, KIR2DS5, KIR3DS1) and 2 inhibitory (KIR3DL1, KIR2DL5a) genes using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) assay. Our results showed that CMV infection occurred in 50.49% of kidney allograft recipients. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the presence of the KIR2DS1 activating gene in the CMV− group compared to the CMV+ group (p = 0.033). The other three activating KIR receptors did not show a correlation with CMV infection. Our results suggest that the prevalence of the KIR activating KIR2DS1 gene may reduce the rate of CMV infection after kidney transplantation in our population.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Kidney Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. The authors also thank the Transplantation Ward of Imam Reza Hospital of Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran, for their kind support.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Institutes for Medical Research Development (NIMAD) grant no. 977497, Tehran, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kidney Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Negin Farzamikia, Seyyed Sina Hejazian, Sepideh Zununi Vahed & Mohammadreza Ardalan

  2. Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Negin Farzamikia, Seyyedeh Mina Hejazian & Seyyed Sina Hejazian

  3. Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Mehdi Haghi

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  1. Negin Farzamikia
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  2. Seyyedeh Mina Hejazian
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  4. Seyyed Sina Hejazian
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  5. Sepideh Zununi Vahed
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Contributions

S. ZV. and MR. A. contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by N. F. and M. H. Data analysis was performed by SM. H. and SS. H. The first draft of the manuscript was written by N. F., and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sepideh Zununi Vahed or Mohammadreza Ardalan.

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Farzamikia, N., Hejazian, S.M., Haghi, M. et al. Evaluation of telomeric KIR genes and their association with CMV infection in kidney transplant recipients. Immunogenetics 74, 207–212 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-021-01245-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-021-01245-2

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