1. Activating Killer-Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptors Are Associated With the Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019
- Author
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Ahmed A. Quadeer, José A. Campillo, Marta Cerezo Moreno, Enrique Bernal, Angeles de la Concha Muñoz, Elisa Martínez-alfaro, María V. Martínez-Sánchez, Alfredo Minguela, Antonia Alcaraz, Matthew R. McKay, María J Alcaraz, Ana Pelaez, Lourdes Gimeno, Marta Hernández-olivo, José Miguel Sáez Gómez, Manuel Muro, Maite Herranz, Elisa García, and Alfredo Cano
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,Genotype ,Human leukocyte antigen ,NK cells ,Severity of Illness Index ,Natural killer cell ,Immunophenotyping ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Receptors, KIR ,HLA Antigens ,HLA class-I ,Severity of illness ,medicine ,Major Article ,Immunology and Allergy ,Humans ,Genetic Predisposition to Disease ,Prospective Studies ,Receptor ,Aged ,Lung ,biology ,business.industry ,SARS-CoV-2 ,COVID-19 ,Middle Aged ,COVID-19 severity ,activating KIR receptors ,Killer Cells, Natural ,030104 developmental biology ,Infectious Diseases ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,AcademicSubjects/MED00290 ,Immunology ,biology.protein ,Female ,Antibody ,business ,030215 immunology ,KIR2DS4 - Abstract
Background Etiopathogenesis of the clinical variability of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains mostly unknown. In this study, we investigate the role of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR)/human leukocyte antigen class-I (HLA-I) interactions in the susceptibility and severity of COVID-19. Methods We performed KIR and HLA-I genotyping and natural killer cell (NKc) receptors immunophenotyping in 201 symptomatic patients and 210 noninfected controls. Results The NKcs with a distinctive immunophenotype, suggestive of recent activation (KIR2DS4low CD16low CD226low CD56high TIGIThigh NKG2Ahigh), expanded in patients with severe COVID-19. This was associated with a higher frequency of the functional A-telomeric activating KIR2DS4 in severe versus mild and/or moderate patients and controls (83.7%, 55.7% and 36.2%, P Conclusions Our results support a crucial role of NKcs in the clinical variability of COVID-19 with specific KIR/ligand interactions associated with disease severity.
- Published
- 2021