KIR3DL1/S1 Allotypes Contribute Differentially to the Development of Behçet Disease

Behçet disease is a chronic, relapsing-remitting autoinflammatory syndrome with a strong HLA-B*51 association. In this paper, we describe a human cohort of 267 individuals with Behçet disease and 445 matched controls from a tertiary referral center in the U.K. HLA-B*51 was confirmed as a genetic risk factor in this group (p = 0.0006, Bonferroni–Dunn correction for multiple testing [Pc] = 0.0192, odds ratio [OR] 1.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.33–2.76). KIR3DL1/S1 allele-level analysis indicated that low-expressing KIR3DL1/S1 alleles in combination with KIR3DS1 increased the risk of developing Behçet disease (KIR3DL1LOW/KIR3DS1: p = 0.0004, Pc = 0.0040, OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.43–4.25), whereas high-expressing KIR3DL1/S1 alleles in combination with a null-expressing KIR3DL1 reduced the risk of disease (KIR3DL1HIGH/KIR3DL1NULL: p = 0.0035, Pc = 0.0350, OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.33–0.87). Behçet disease can manifest as a purely mucocutaneous disease or can involve other organ systems such as the eyes. In the U.K. cohort studied in this study, KIR3DL1LOW/KIR3DS1 increased the risk of ophthalmic disease (p = 1.2 × 10−5, OR 3.92, 95% CI 2.06–7.47), whereas KIR3DL1HIGH/KIR3DL1NULL reduced the risk of having purely mucocutaneous disease (p = 0.0048, OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.25–0.81). To our knowledge, this is the first analysis of KIR3DL1/S1 allelic variation in Behçet disease and may provide insight into the pathogenic role of HLA-B*51 and its interaction with KIR3DL1/S1.