KIR and HLA gene combinations in Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

SummaryVogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease is a putative autoimmune ocular inflammatory disease and is known to be associated with HLA-DR4 and -DR1 in Mestizos. We examined the genes encoding KIR receptors and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I ligands in patients with VKH disease and compared to published controls. We found trends toward more group B KIR haplogroups (p = 0.059), with more activating KIR genes, in patients compared to controls. All putative activating KIR–HLA combinations were more common in patients, and some inhibitory KIR–HLA combinations were more common in controls, although the differences were not statistically significant. The trends observed in this study are consistent with those reported for other autoimmune diseases.