Effects of S-KIR on acute allograft rejection after cadaveric liver transplantation

Objective　To evaluate the effect of activated killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (S-KIR) on acute rejection (AR) after cadaveric liver transplantation. Methods　Fifty-six randomized pairs of donors and recipients of liver transplantation were investigated to define their KIR genotype with PCR-SSP method. The perioperative clinical data of recipients were collected and statistically analyzed by SPSS 16.0. Results　Inhibitory KIR (L-KIR, genotype AA) accounted for 50% (28/56) in the liver transplantation patients, of whom the expression frequency was 0.499; S-KIR (genotype AB/BB) accounted for 50% (28/56), of whom the expression frequency was 0.500. Out of the 56 pairs, AR occurred in16 recipients with an incidence of 28.6%. AR occurred 7-30 days after operation, and the median time was 14 days. AR occurred in 18.8% (3/16) of the recipients with AA assortment and in 43.8% (7/16) with AB/BB assortment, and there was no significant difference between two groups (P>0.05). AR occurred in 25.0% (4/16) of the donors with AA assortment and in 12.5% (2/16) with AB/BB assortment, and there was also no significant difference between two groups (P>0.05). AR occurred in 16.67% of the recipients who expressed one activating KIR gene (S1), and in 83.33% of the recipients who expressed two or more than two activating KIR genes (S2), with significant difference between two groups (P<0.05). Conclusions　The genotype assortment and number of S-KIR may be related to the AR occurrence after liver transplantation. KIR tests of recipients may have significant clinical value in research of the effect of low-dose, low concentration, and combined therapy with anti-rejection drugs after liver transplantation. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2014.04.12