Natural Killer (NK) Cell Alloreactivity in Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation

This paper conducts a literature review on the role of natural killer cells in haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Theoretical concepts related to <i>KIR</i> genes are introduced regarding their structure, nomenclature, genetic organization, polymorphism, and inherita...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mar Luis-Hidalgo, José Luis Piñana, Carlos Solano, Dolores Planelles
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Cells
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14/14/1091
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Summary:This paper conducts a literature review on the role of natural killer cells in haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Theoretical concepts related to <i>KIR</i> genes are introduced regarding their structure, nomenclature, genetic organization, polymorphism, and inheritance pattern, types of KIR proteins and receptors, HLA ligands for KIR receptors, and the definition of different NK alloreactivity prediction models for the donor of haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and the recipient. These models include the following and consider incompatibility: ligand–ligand, receptor–ligand, gene–gene, and KIR haplotype models or the <i>KIR-B</i> donor group. These models consider the presence or absence of specific ligands or receptors and/or <i>KIR</i> genes in the donor and recipient to predict alloreactivity. Determining the best model for predicting KIR alloreactivity and its significance in donor selection algorithms for haploidentical transplantation is still under investigation.
ISSN:2073-4409