Role of human leukocyte antigen, killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors, and cytokine gene polymorphisms in leptospirosis

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2009

Authors

fialho, rn (Author) Other; martins, l (Author) Other; pinheiro, jp (Author) Other; bettencourt, bf (Author) Other; couto, ar (Author) Other; santos, mr (Author) Other; peixoto, mj (Author) Other; garrett, f (Author) Other; leal, j (Author) Other; tomas, am (Author) FCUP; bruges-armas, j (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Human Immunology

Vol. 70

Pages: 915-920

ISSN: 0198-8859

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 22 Citations

Scopus - 25 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-ENC

DOI: 10.1016/j.humimm.2009.08.007

Abstract (EN): Leptospirosis is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic species of the genus Leptospira. It has a broad range of clinical presentations in humans. Although progress has been made in the characterization of the host immune system factors that may affect disease progression and outcome, to date few reports have addressed the role of genetic polymorphisms in the Susceptibility to leptospirosis. In this work a group of patients with a history of leptospiral infection and a control group were compared for polymorphisms in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA), in killer-cell inimunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR), and in cytokine genes. Alleles in the HLA-A and -B loci were associated with susceptibility, as were the class I haplotype A*01 -B*08-Cw*07 and the 8.1 ancestral haplotype (A*01-B*08-Cw*07-DRB1*03-DQB1*02). Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-4R alpha genes also had significantly higher frequencies in the patient group. No association was reported between KIR gene profile and leptospirosis. This work highlights the importance of using genetic polymorphisms to better understand the mechanisms involved in the immune response to leptospirosis.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 6