Relationship between KIR genotypes and HLA-ligands with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Saudi population

Suliman Alomar; Afrah Alkhuriji; Fadwa M Alkhulaifi; Lamjed Mansour; Abdullah Al-Jurayyan; Ghadeer S Aldossari; Aishah Eid Albalawi; Abdullah D Alanazi

doi:10.1016/j.jksus.2022.102416

Relationship between KIR genotypes and HLA-ligands with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Saudi population

J King Saud Univ Sci. 2023 Jan;35(1):102416. doi: 10.1016/j.jksus.2022.102416. Epub 2022 Nov 1.

Authors

Suliman Alomar^{1

2}, Afrah Alkhuriji², Fadwa M Alkhulaifi³, Lamjed Mansour², Abdullah Al-Jurayyan⁴, Ghadeer S Aldossari⁵, Aishah Eid Albalawi⁶, Abdullah D Alanazi⁷

Affiliations

¹ Doping Research Chair, Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, PO. Box: 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Zoology Department, College of Sciences, King Saud University, Post Office Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
³ Biology Department, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Immunology and HLA Section, Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Medicine, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Serology, Immunology and HLA, Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Medicine, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 47912, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Humanities, Shaqra University, P.O. Box 1040, Ad-Dawadimi 11911, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Aim: To ascertain whether killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) genes polymorphisms and HLA-I ligands are associated with COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: Eighty-seven COVID-19 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and one hundred and fourteen healthy controls were enrolled in this study for genotyping of the 16 KIR genes, HLA-C1 and -C2 allotypes and HLA-G 14-bp indels polymorphisms using the sequence specific primer polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR) method. KIR genotype frequency differences and combination KIR-HLA-C ligand were tested for significance.

Results: Framework genes KIR2DL4, KIR3DL2, KIR3DL3, and KIR3DP2 were present in all individuals. The frequencies of KIR2DL2 and KIR2D4 were higher in COVID-19 positive patients than in healthy individuals. The frequencies of the combination KIR2DL2-HLA-C2 was also significantly higher in patients affected by COVID-19 compared with healthy controls.

Conclusion: It was found that the inhibitory KIR2DL2 gene in isolation or combined with its HLA-C2 ligand could be associated with susceptibility to COVID-19 in the Saudi population.

Keywords: COVID-19; HLA-C1; HLA-C2; HLA-G; KIR; Saudi Population.