Język
EN
Treść
Endometriosis is defined as the presence of functional
endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. Several
hypotheses have attempted to explain the etiology and pathogenesis
of endometriosis. Recently, it has been suggested that
a defect of the natural killer (NK) activity in the recognition
and lysis of endometrial cells is one of the crucial points in the
development of this disease. Natural killer cells can express
killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR), which recognize
class I human leukocyte antigens on target cells. We asked
whether polymorphisms in KIR, HLA-C, and HLA-B genes
are risk factors for endometriosis. We tested 153 women with
endometriosis diagnosed on the basis of laparoscopic and histological examination, and 213 control healthy women,
who gave birth to at least one child. The frequency of KIR
genes in patients was similar to that in controls except for
KIR2DS5, which exerted a protective effect only in HLA-C
C2-positive individuals.Moreover, KIR2DS5-positivewomen
with endometriosis had 13 times lower chance that the disease
would occupy the peritoneum than KIR2DS5- and
KIR2DS4del-negative ones (OR=0.077, P=0.0061). Similarly,
KIR2DS4del-positive endometriotic persons had 11 times
lower chance for peritoneal disease (OR=0.094, P<0.001).
Negative linkage disequilibrium between KIR2DS5 and
KIR2DS4del indicates that these genes are mutually exclusive.
Our data suggest that KIR2DS5 may be associated with protection
from endometriosis, whereas KIR2DS4del seems to be
associated with higher disease stages, possibly by exclusion of
protective KIR2DS5.
