About the webinar
In this webinar, Prof. John Trowsdale, Emeritus Professor at University of Cambridge will give an overview about the immunogenetics of KIR end their interactions with HLA class I.
NK cells are relevant to many kinds of disease, including infections, autoimmunity, cancer, transplantation and reproduction. The behavior of NK cells is controlled by a large number of different cell surface receptors.
Killer Immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) are highly variable in expression, gene number and allele sequence in different individuals. Since they interact with highly polymorphic HLA class I molecules, understanding how they impact disease is dependent on accurate DNA typing of both KIR and HLA and evaluation of their interactions. There has been considerable progress in understanding the relationship between inhibitory KIR and HLA-C and, more recently, how activating KIR are sensitive to specific peptides from pathogens. An out-rider, KIR3DL3, appears to have a novel role, interacting with a B7 coreceptor ligand HHLA2.
