INSIGHTS INTO THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN KIR GENE FREQUENCIES AND CHRONIC HBV INFECTION IN BURKINA FASO

Background/Objective: The receptors of natural killer cells "Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor" (KIR) regulate the activity of Natural killer cells in the innate response against viral infections. To date there is no accurate method to identify high risk groups for cirrhosis and HCC in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this investigation was undertaken to assess the association between KIR genes frequencies and chronic infection HBV infection in Burkina Faso’s population. Methods: Chronic HBV carriers and healthy patients were selected for this study. The viral load for HBV were performed to confirm the serological status for HBV of the studied cohort. In addition, SSP-PCR was used to characterize the frequencies of KIR genes. Results: The study suggested that inhibitory genes KIR2DL2, KIR2DL3 and activator gene KIR2DS2 (p˂0.001 for all and OR = 2.82; 2.48 and 3.84 respectively) might be associated with chronic stages of HBV infection.  While inhibitory genes KIR3DL1 (p = 0.0018 OR = 0.49), KIR3DL2 (p = 0.005 OR = 0.40), the activator gene KIR2DS1 (p = 0.014 OR = 0.47) and the pseudo gene KIR2DP1 (p = 0.011 OR = 0.49) could be associated with immunity against HBV infection. Patients who carried the KIR3DL2 gene had a high HBV viral load compared to the rest of the study population. Conclusion: Our data showed an evidence of correlation between the propensity of developing chronic HBV infection and certain KIR gene frequencies and that KIR3DL1, KIR3DL2, KIR2DS1 and KIR2DP1 might confer a protective status against chronic HBV infection in Burkina Faso’s patients

Role of Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) genes in stages of HIV-1 infection among patients from Burkina Faso

A cluster of specialized KIR genes of specialized KIR genes has been shown to be associated with susceptibility or resistance to viral infections in humans. Therefore, this pilot study, this pilot investigation sought to determine the frequencies of KIR genes human immunodeficiency virus type 1( HIV-1) patients and establish their potential clinical involvement in disease progression and staging