Over 325 million people worldwide are living with hepatitis B and C viral infections and are at greater risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. The interactions between killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and their cognate ligands, human leukocyte antigens, modulate both infection processes and disease progression. We report here (1) genotype and haplotype variations in KIR genes in Cameroon and (2) their impact on susceptibility to hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In 98 unrelated individuals (33 HCV+, 31 HBV+, and 34 uninfected healthy controls), we determined the presence of 15 KIR genes by polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primer techniques. One pseudogene and all 14 KIR genes were present. We identified 36 KIR genotypes, 5 of which have not been previously reported in public databases. Two inhibitory (KIR2DL1 and KIR2DL3) and three activating (KIR2DS4, KIR2DS2, and KIR2DS3) genes were present in all HCV-infected individuals. Similarly, KIR3DL1, KIR2DL1, and KIR2DS4 were present at 100% in the HBV+ group. Compared with uninfected healthy controls, the frequencies of KIR2DL2 and KIR3DS1 were significantly lower in the HBV+ group (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively). Conversely, KIR3DS1 was significantly overrepresented in the HCV+ group compared with controls (97.0% vs. 64.7%, respectively, p < 0.001). These results may imply that KIR3DS1 carriers were less likely to be HBV infected, but may be predisposed to HCV infection compared with uninfected controls, indicating their important role in transmission of these viruses. However, phenotypic, functional, and genomic studies to elucidate the role of these KIR genotypes and haplotypes in infection with HBV and HCV are important.

中文翻译：

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喀麦隆的杀伤细胞免疫球蛋白样受体基因型和单倍型易感于乙型肝炎病毒和丙型肝炎病毒感染。

全世界超过3.25亿人患有乙型和丙型肝炎病毒感染，罹患肝细胞癌的风险更大。杀伤细胞免疫球蛋白样受体（KIR）与它们的同源配体，人类白细胞抗原之间的相互作用调节感染过程和疾病进展。我们在这里报告（1）喀麦隆KIR基因的基因型和单倍型变异，以及（2）它们对乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染的易感性的影响。在98个无关的个体（33个HCV +，31个HBV +和34个未感染的健康对照）中，我们通过聚合酶链反应序列特异性引物技术确定了15个KIR基因的存在。存在一个假基因和所有14个KIR基因。我们鉴定出36种KIR基因型，其中5种以前未在公共数据库中报道过。在所有被HCV感染的个体中均存在两个抑制基因（KIR2DL1和KIR2DL3）和三个激活基因（KIR2DS4，KIR2DS2和KIR2DS3）。同样，HBV +组中KIR3DL1，KIR2DL1和KIR2DS4的含量为100％。与未感染的健康对照相比，HBV +组的KIR2DL2和KIR3DS1的频率明显较低（分别为p = 0.003和p <0.001）。相反，与对照组相比，KIR3DS1在HCV +组中显着过高（分别为97.0％和64.7％，p <0.001）。这些结果可能表明，KIR3DS1携带者不太可能受到HBV感染，但与未感染的对照相比可能更易感染HCV，表明它们在这些病毒的传播中具有重要作用。但是，表型，功能，