KIR and HLA ligands demonstrate genetic inheritance diversity in Japanese descendants from Paraná, Brazil.

In order to investigate killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and their ligands, human leukocyte antigen (HLA), diversity in the Brazilian population influenced by migrations, unrelated Brazilian Japanese descendants were selected and genotyped for the KIR genes and HLA class I allele groups. Genetic heterogeneity in Brazil Paraná Japanese was observed for KIR genes, whose frequency distributions demonstrated similarity with mixed Brazilian populations and with the Japanese population, suggesting gene flow. The data contributed to the identification of the genetic constitution of the Brazilian population influenced by immigrations and two new genotypes were defined.