Distribution of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor genes in population of Vojvodina, Serbia

AbstractBackground: Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are glycoproteins regulating the response of natural killer (NK) cells and a few sub-sets of T-cells. The KIR gene frequencies and genotype content vary considerably among different ethnic groups.Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse KIR gene polymorphism in the population of Vojvodina and to compare it with selected worldwide populations.Subjects and methods: The studied sample consists of 134 healthy unrelated individuals, residents of different geographical regions of Vojvodina. DNA samples isolated from peripheral blood leukocytes by the silica-based extraction method were used in reverse PCR-SSO and PCR-SSP technique to detect the presence and absence of KIR genes.Results: All 16 KIR genes, a total of 37 different KIR genotypes, were observed in the Vojvodina population with the presence of framework and pseudogenes in all individuals. The neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree shows that the Vojvodina population is in the same clu...