Premium
HLA‐C/KIR genotypes in oral lichen planus patients infected or non‐infected with hepatitis C virus
Author(s) -
Carrozzo M,
Elia A,
Mereu V,
Dametto E,
Fasano ME,
Broccoletti R,
Rendine S,
Amoroso A
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
oral diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.953
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1601-0825
pISSN - 1354-523X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1601-0825.2010.01742.x
Subject(s) - hepatitis c virus , oral lichen planus , human leukocyte antigen , biology , immunology , genotype , polymerase chain reaction , virus , allele , hepatitis c , gene , virology , hepacivirus , hla c , antigen , genetics
Oral Diseases (2011) 17 , 309–313 Objectives: Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and resembles graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) both clinically and histologically. The killer cell immunoglobulin‐like receptor (KIR) genes encode a family of receptors expressed on NK and T cells and are supposed to play a significant role in GVHD and HCV infection. The aim of this study was to analyze the association among OLP, HCV infection and variants in KIR gene expression. Methods: A total of 81 patients with OLP (36 HCV+ve and 45 HCV−ve) and 217 healthy controls (HCV−ve) were typed for the presence of eight KIR genes and of HLA‐Cw* alleles by polymerase chain reaction‐sequence specific primer. Results: There were no significant differences in the frequency of the KIR genes and HLA‐C1/C2 group alleles between cases and controls. We only found a significant difference in the frequency of the gene KIR2DL2 between HCV+ve and HCV−ve OLP patients. Conclusions: The present data suggest that OLP is not associated with particular KIR genes or with HLA‐Cw* alleles in patients without HCV infection. Contrarily, the role of the genes in OLP‐HCV+ve patients remains unclear and might warrant further researches.