Polymorphisms of killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and HLA ligands in northeastern Thais.

Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are cell surface receptors on natural killer (NK) cells and subsets of T cells. The functions of NK cells are partly regulated by interactions between KIRs and HLA ligands on target cells. In this study, the presence or absence of 17 KIR genes and their known HLA ligands have been investigated in 235 unrelated individuals living in northeastern Thailand (NET).

Preparation of single donor platelet with low antibody titers for all patients.

Platelet concentrates from ABO-identical donors are the components of choice for patients. However, since inventories are generally insufficient and because there is usually a relative abundance of group O donors, perfect matches are not always possible. It is therefore the accepted practice for platelets to be transfused out of the ABO group when ABO-identical platelets are unavailable.

Bystander T cells in human immune responses to dengue antigens.

Background: Previous studies of T cell activation in dengue infection have focused on restriction of specific T cell receptors (TCRs) and classical MHC molecules. However, bystander T cell activation, which is TCR independent, occurs via cytokines in other viral infections, both in vitro and in vivo, and enables T cells to bypass certain control checkpoints. Moreover, clinical and pathological evidence has pointed to cytokines as the mediators of dengue disease severity.

Polymorphisms of NKG2D ligands: diverse RAET1/ULBP genes in northeastern Thais.

Unique long 16 (UL-16)-binding proteins (ULBP) or retinoic acid early transcripts-1 (RAET1) are ligands to the activating receptor, NKG2D. The human RAET1/ULBP gene family is identified as ten members (RAET1E to N) with six loci encoding for potentially functional proteins. These are ULBP1 or RAET1I, ULBP2 or RAET1H, ULBP3 or RAET1N, and RAET1L, which are glycosylinositol phospholipid (GPI)-linked glycoproteins and ULBP4 or RAET1E and ULBP5 or RAET1G, which are transmembrane glycoproteins.

Haplotype associations of the major histocompatibility complex with psoriasis in Northeastern Thais.

Background: To evaluate the distributions of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) at class I and II loci that may contribute to the genetic susceptibility to psoriasis patients in the north-eastern Thai population.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed the allelic frequencies of HLA class I and II by using the polymerase chain reaction-amplification refractory mutation system (PCR-ARMS) technique and polymerase chain reaction-single stranded conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP), respectively, in 140 north-eastern Thais with psoriasis that were sudivided into two groups: one with age at onset < 40 years (type I psoriasis; 95 cases) and the other with age at onset > 40 years (type II psoriasis; 45 cases). Three hundred healthy unrelated north-eastern Thais were used as controls.