부산대학교 도서관

Context:Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs) are aimed to interfere with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) progression and reduce the joint damage; however, not all patients respond alike. Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and their ligands, human leucocyte antigen class I (HLA-I), have been associated with RA pathology; therefore,KIRandHLAgenes may influence the treatment response. Materials and methods:We evaluated the association ofKIRgenotype and their ligandsHLA-Cgenes with the response to DMARDs in RA patients. We included 69 patients diagnosed with RA and 82 healthy individuals as the reference group.KIRandHLA-Cgenotyping was performed using SSP-PCR. RA patients were assessed at baseline and under treatment at 6 and 12 months; subsequently classified as responders and non-responders in each time period. We evaluated the association between DMARD response and genes using statistical analysis by using Fisher exact test with Bonferroni correction; results were regarded as statistically significant atp < 0.05. Results:Significant difference was observed in gene frequencies of patients and the reference group,KIR2DL2was associated with RA (p = 0.031, OR = 2.119). We also observed an association betweenKIR2DS2and the response to methotrexate (MTX), moreover, the combinationKIR2DL2+/KIR2DS2+ was more frequent in responders to MTX (p = 0.043). Discussion and conclusions:In our results, responders and non-responders to DMARDs showedKIR2DS2andKIR2DL2different gene frequencies, therefore, these genes could be used as response predictors to DMARDs treatment. Thus, these genes were also associated with disease severity, as well as the treatment response possibly by the immunoregulatory function of NK cells. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]