Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate whether certain combination of maternal killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and fetal human leukocyte antigen-C (HLA-C) is risk for preeclampsia in the Chinese Han population.
Methods: A case-control study was conducted in 47 pregnant women with preeclampsia and 54 normal pregnant women. Twelve KIR genes were genotyped by PCR-sequence-specific primer in mothers. High-resolution HLA-C genotyping was performed in couples and fetuses by a routine sequencing-based typing method.
Results: The frequency of KIR2DS1 was decreased (p = 0.028) and AA genotype was increased (p = 0.017) in preeclampsia compared with controls. More women with KIR AA genotype have fewer C2 genes than their fetuses in preeclampsia than controls.
Conclusion: Women with KIR AA genotype and fewer C2 genes than their fetuses were at risk for preeclampsia in the Chinese Han population, supporting that maternal-fetal KIR-HLA-C interaction plays an important role in preeclampsia development.
Keywords: HLA-C; KIR; preeclampsia.