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Association study between killer immunoglobulin-like receptor polymorphisms and susceptibility to COVID-19 disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a known virus that leads to a respiratory disease called coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). Natural killer (NK) cells, as members of innate immunity, possess crucial roles in restricting viral infections, including COVID-19. Their functions and development depend on receiving signals through various receptors, of which killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) belong to the most effective ones. Different studies investigated the association between KIR gene content and susceptibility to COVID-19. Since previous studies have yielded contradictory results, we designed this meta-analysis study to draw comprehensive conclusions about COVID-19 risk and KIR gene association. According to PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search was performed in the electronic databases to find all studies investigating KIR gene contents in COVID-19 patients before March 2023. Any association between KIR genes and COVID-19 risk was determined by calculating pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 1673 COVID-19 patients and 1526 healthy controls from eight studies were included in this meta-analysis. As the main results, we observed a positive association between the 2DL3 (OR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.17–1.88, P < 0.001) and susceptibility to COVID-19 and a negative association between the 2DP1 and the risk for COVID-19 (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.23–0.99, P = 0.049). This meta-analysis demonstrated that KIR2DL3, as a member of iKIRs, might be associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 disease.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate Dr. Peyman Bemani, Assistant Professor of Medical Immunology, for his valuable remarks in revising the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Sara Mirzazadeh and Niloofar Mashhadi contributed equally to this study and both are considered to be the second authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Promotion Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran

    Saeed Hosseini Teshnizi

  2. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, PO Box: 71345-1798, Shiraz, Iran

    Sara Mirzazadeh, Niloofar Mashhadi & Kurosh Kalantar

  3. Department of Bacteriology and Immunology and the Translational Immunology Research Program (TRIMM), The University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Seppo Meri & Kurosh Kalantar

  4. Institute of Immunology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel and University Hospital Schleswig, Holstein Campus Kiel, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Dieter Kabelitz

  5. Autoimmune Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Kurosh Kalantar

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Contributions

KK conceived and designed the study. NM and SM screened publications, extracted data, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. SHT performed the statistical analysis and wrote part of the manuscript draft. DK, SMe, and KK reviewed and made edits to the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kurosh Kalantar.

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Teshnizi, S.H., Mirzazadeh, S., Mashhadi, N. et al. Association study between killer immunoglobulin-like receptor polymorphisms and susceptibility to COVID-19 disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Immunol Res 72, 175–184 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-023-09428-7

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