Review Article

Role of Killer Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor and Ligand Matching in Donor Selection

Table 2

Impact of KIR or KIR ligand matching on transplant outcome.

ReferenceOverall survivalaGVHDGraft failureRelapse

Ruggeri et al. 2002 [3]Better (missing KIR ligand)Decrease (missing KIR ligand)Decrease (missing KIR ligand)Decrease (missing KIR ligand)
Bishara et al. 2004 [6]Better (KIR match, GVH direction)increase (donor aKIR)No effectNo effect
Symons et al. 2010 [7]Better (iKIR mm, D: haplotype B)No effectDecrease (iKIRmm;
haplotype B: D/R: +/−) myeloid, lymphoid
Weisdorf et al. 2012 [8]No effectNo effectNo effect (KIR increase ligand mm)
Cook et al. 2004 [9]Unknown (haplotype A: CMV reactivation )UnknownUnknown
Hsu et al. 2005 [10]Better (missing iKIR ligand)No effectDecrease (AML, MDS, and missing iKIR ligand)
Dalva et al. 2006 [11]Better (aKIR m)Decrease (iKIR m)Decrease (aKIR m)
Increase (D: haplotype B)
McQueen et al. 2007 [5]Worse (donor but not recipient has haplotype B)Increase (donor but not recipient has haplotype B, also Bw4)Increase (haplotype B
D/R: +/−)
Decrease (D: 3DL1/3DL2; R: A3/11or Bw4+)
Kim et al. 2007 [12]Better (D: aKIR)Increase (D: aKIR: 2DS2-4)Decrease (D: aKIR)
Giebel et al. 2009 [13]Decrease (aKIR mm and group C2+)Increase
(aKIR mm)
Increase (aKIR mm)
Stringaris et al. 2010 [14]Better (D: haplotype B)UnknownDecrease
(D: aKIR or haplotype B) AML
Davies et al. 2002 [15]Worse (missing KIR ligand) myeloidNo effectNo effectNo effect
Giebel et al. 2003 [16]Better (KIR ligand mm)No effectIncrease (KIR ligand match)Decrease
(KIR ligand mm) myeloid
Bornhäuser et al. 2004 [17]No effectNo effectIncrease (KIR ligand mm)
Schaffer et al. 2004 [18]Worse (increase infections)No effectNo effect
Beelen et al. 2005 [19]No effectNo effectIncrease (KIR ligand mm)Decrease (KIR ligand mm)
De Santis et al. 2005 [20]Worse (KIR epitope mm)Increase
(NK epitope mm)
Worse (NK epitope mm)
Kröger et al. 2005 [21]No effectNot significantDecrease (KIR ligand mm)
Farag et al. 2006 [22]No effectNo effectNo effectNo effect
Miller et al. 2007 [23]Increase (KIR ligand mm)Decrease (both KIR ligand and HLA mm)
Yabeet al. 2008 [24]Worse (KIR ligand mm)Increase (KIR ligand mm; D:2DS2 )No effect
Cooley et al. 2009 and 2010 [25, 26]Better
(D: haplotype B)
No effectNo effectDecrease (D: haplotype B) AML but not ALL
Gagne 2009 [4]No effect (D: haplotype B); Decrease (HLA identical, KIR3DL1: D+R− D: KIR3DL1+/3DS1+ R: Bw4+
R: C1 ligand−)
Increase
(HLA I: 2DL5 mm HLA nonI: 2DS1mm)
Decrease
(HLA I: 2DS3 mm,
D: haplotype B)
No effect (D: haplotype B)
Increase (D: 3DL1+/3DS1+
R: Bw4−)
Decrease (D: 3DL1+/3DS1+
R: Bw4+)
Venstrom et al. 2010 [27]Better (D: KIR3DS1)Decrease
(D: KIR3DS1)
No effect (D: 3DS1)
Brunstein et al. 2009 [28]Worse (only with RIC)Increase (KIR ligand mm)(RIC)Decrease (KIR ligand mm) (RIC)
Willemze et al. 2009 [29]Better (KIR ligand mm)DecreaseDecrease (KIR ligand mm)

M: match, mm: mismatch, RIC: reduced intensity conditioning, D/R: donor/recipient, HLA I: HLA identical, and HLA nonI: HLA nonidentical.