Affiliations: [a] Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| [b] Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, University Hospital, Arcispedale S. Anna, Ferrara, Italy
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Prof. Dario Di Luca and Prof. Roberta Rizzo, University of Ferrara, Department of Medical Sciences, Section of Microbiology and Medical Genetics, Via Luigi Borsari, 46 - 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
Tel.: +39 0532455318; Fax: +39 0532974470; E-mail: dario.diluca@unife.it (Dario Di Luca)
and Tel.: +39 0532455382; Fax: +39 0532974470; E-mail: rbr@unife.it (Roberta Rizzo).
Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, where neuroinflammation and immune cells are key pathological factors. Recently, it was suggested a possible association between AD and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection. Since we recently observed that multiple sclerosis patients with KIR2DL2 expression on natural killer (NK) cells are more susceptible to herpesvirus infection, we tested the possible implication of KIR/HLA genetic for HHV-6A infection. We identified, for the first time, a possible implication of a specific KIR/HLA subset in AD. The combination KIR2DS2/KIR2DL2/C1 correlated with a lower MMSEDi score, representative of a severe AD status and an increased susceptibility to HHV-6A infection. Therefore, the results seem to converge on the hypothesis that herpesvirus infection might play a role in AD. If this hypothesis finds experimental confirmation, a new therapeutic strategy, modulating KIR2DL2 expression on NK cells, for AD might be envisaged.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, herpesvirus, HHV-6A, KIR, NK cell
