| Title |
KIR genotypic diversity can track ancestries in heterogeneous populations: a potential confounder for disease association studies
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Immunogenetics, September 2011
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00251-011-0569-x |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Komal Manpreet Singh, Yume T. Phung, Mohamed S. Kohla, Billy Y-A Lan, Sharon Chan, Diana L. Suen, Sahar Murad, Shana Rheault, Peter Davidson, Jennifer Evans, Manpreet Singh, Sofie Dohil, Robert W. Osorio, Adil E. Wakil, Kimberly Page, Sandy Feng, Stewart L. Cooper |
| Abstract |
Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) are encoded by highly polymorphic genes that regulate the activation of natural killer (NK) cells and other lymphocyte subsets and likely play key roles in innate and adaptive immunity. Association studies increasingly implicate KIR in disease predisposition and outcome but could be confounded by unknown KIR genetic structure in heterogeneous populations. To examine this, we characterized the diversity of 16 KIR genes in 712 Northern Californians (NC) stratified by self-assigned ethnicities and compared the profiles of KIR polymorphism with other US and global populations using a reference database. Sixty-eight distinct KIR genotypes were characterized: 58 in 457 Caucasians (NCC), 17 in 47 African Americans (NCAA), 21 in 80 Asians (NCA), 20 in 74 Hispanics (NCH), and 18 in 54 "other" ethnicities (NCO). KIR genotype patterns and frequencies in the 4 defined ethnicities were compared with each other and with 34 global populations by phylogenetic analysis. Although there were no population-specific genotypes, the KIR genotype frequency patterns faithfully traced the ancestry of NCC, NCAA, and NCA but not of NCH whose ancestries are known to be more heterogeneous. KIR genotype frequencies can therefore track ethnic ancestries in modern urban populations. Our data emphasize the importance of selecting ethnically matched controls in KIR-based studies to avert spurious associations. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 24 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 1 | 4% |
| India | 1 | 4% |
| Germany | 1 | 4% |
| Brazil | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 20 | 83% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 7 | 29% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 6 | 25% |
| Student > Master | 4 | 17% |
| Student > Bachelor | 1 | 4% |
| Professor | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 3 | 13% |
| Unknown | 2 | 8% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 11 | 46% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 4 | 17% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 2 | 8% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 1 | 4% |
| Social Sciences | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 4 | 17% |