To investigate the association of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) genotype and haplotype with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
Peripheral blood samples were collected from 105 AS patients, 62 patients of osteoarthritis (OA), and 412 randomly selected healthy controls. Polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) was used to detect the KIR genotype and haplotype.
The genotype frequency of 3DL3-2DL3-2DL1-2DP1-2DL4-3DL1-2DS4-3DL2 (6.67%) was significantly lower in the AS patients than in the control subjects (20.15%) and OA patients (17.74%, P = 0.001, 0.037 respectively). The genotype frequency of 3DL3-2DL3-2DL2-2DL1-2DP1-2DLA-3DL1-2DL5-2DS1-2DS2-2DS3-2DS4-2DS5-3DS1-3DL2 and 3DL3-2DL3-2DL2- 2DL1-2DP1-2DL4-3DL1-2DL5-2DS1-2DS4-3DL2 of the AS patients (9.52%, 5.71%)was significantly higher than that of the controls(2.18%, 0.49%; P = 0.001, 0.001), and these two genotypes were not detected in the OA patients. There were not significant differences in the haplotypes A and B among the AS patients, OA patients, and healthy controls.
KIR genotypes may be associated with the susceptibility to AS.