Lack of association between KIR and HLA-C type and susceptibility to idiopathic bronchiectasis

Our results do not show an association between HLA-C and KIR and therefore do not confirm previous positive findings. This may be explained by the lower frequency of HLA-C1 group homozygosity in the control population of the previous study (27.2%), compared to 42.3% in our study, which is consistent with the genetic profiling of control groups across the UK. The previous positive association study may therefore have been driven by an anomalous control group. Further larger prospective multicentre replication studies are needed to determine if an association exists.