Research abstract:
Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes encode for activating and inhibitory surface receptors, which are correlated with the regulation of Natural Killer (NK) cell cytotoxic activity. Reduced NK cell cytotoxic activity has been consistently reported in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) patients, and KIR haplotypes and allelic polymorphism remain to be investigated.
The aim of this article was to conduct a pilot study to examine KIR genotypes, haplotypes, and allelic polymorphism in CFS/ME patients and nonfatigued controls (NFCs).
Comparison of KIR and allelic polymorphism frequencies revealed no significant differences between 20 CFS/ME patients and 20 NFCs. A lower frequency of the telomeric A/B motif (P < 0.05) was observed in CFS/ME patients compared with NFCs.
This pilot study is the first to report the differences in the frequency of KIR on the telomeric A/B motif in CFS/ME patients.
Further studies with a larger CFS/ME cohort are required to validate these results.
Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptor Genotype and Haplotype Investigation of Natural Killer Cells from an Australian Population of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Patients by T. K. Huth, E. W. Brenu, D. R. Staines, and S. M. Marshall-Gradisnik in Gene Regulation and Systems Biology 2016:10 43-49, 19 Jun 2016
Comment by Prof Jonathan Edwards:
The main finding appears to be that there was no difference between ME/CFS and controls. They mention a different frequency of haplotype heterozygosity (A/B) but they do not give a figure for it. I am not sure what it would mean,
There has been a previous paper suggesting a difference in KIR expression in ME/CFS – which this paper does not seem to confirm. The sample is too small to be decisive but it would be useful to establish that there is no genetic difference in KIRs and move on from that option to another hypothesis. The pity is that people do not realise just how important negative findings are and often do not even publish them.
