{"term":{"id":"13362","title":"killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor","longtitle":"IUPAC Gold Book - killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor","doi":"10.1351\/goldbook.13362","code":"13362","status":"current","initialism":"<em>initialism<\/em>: KIR","synonym":"<em>synonym<\/em>: killer inhibitory receptor","definitions":[{"id":1,"text":"Receptor expressed on natural killer (NK) cells that binds to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules on target cells; binding MHC class I inhibits the signaling that would otherwise lead to target cell killing.","notes":{"1":"If immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM) sequences are present in the KIR cytoplasmic domain, MHC class I molecule binding is inhibitory to the killer cell. KIRs lacking ITIMs can associate with immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM)-containing adaptor molecules, in which case binding of MHC class I molecules can activate the killer cell."},"links":[{"term":"immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM)","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13313"},{"term":"immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM)","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13314"},{"term":"killer cell","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13361"},{"term":"major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13431"},{"term":"natural killer (NK) cells","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13499"},{"term":"target cells","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13727"}],"sources":["PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1199 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1351\/PAC-REC-11-06-03)"]}],"altoutputs":{"html":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13362\/html","xml":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13362\/xml","plain":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13362\/plain"},"citation":"Citation: 'killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351\/goldbook.13362","license":"The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/) for individual terms.","collection":"If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .","disclaimer":"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.","accessed":"2026-07-26T13:39:26+00:00"}}