en Molecular Genetics & Genomics Molecular Genetics & Genomics مقاله کامل Full Length/Original Article <strong>Background: </strong>The innate immune system against malignancies is mainly orchestrated by natural killer cells, which carry out killing mechanisms by using their receptors, such as killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). This study was designed to determine the diversity of KIR genes in non-melanoma skin cancers. <strong>Methods:</strong> A total of 160 subjects with skin cancer, including 60 cases of squamous cell carcinoma and 100 cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and 270 healthy subjects formed the study groups. The sequence-specific polymerase chain reaction was carried out to detect the presence or absence of 16 <em>KIR </em>genes. <strong>Results:</strong> <em>KIR3DL1</em> (<em>p</em> = 0.0381, OR = 4.78, 95% CI = 1.108 to 20.62) increased in BCC patients compared to healthy controls. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> We concluded that the higher frequency of KIR3DL1 in BCC patients compared with healthy controls may increase the probability of developing BCC in Iranians. Basal cell carcinoma, KIR, Natural killer cells, Receptors, Squamous cell carcinoma 330 337 http://ibj.pasteur.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-772&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Fahimeh Yousefinejad 0000-0003-0071-8429 No Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz Iran Farideh Jowkar 0000-0002-0293-3117 No Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Shaghik Barani 0000-0003-1217-1627 No Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Elham Jamali 0000-0002-8295-3870 No Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz Iran Ebrahim Mahmoudi 0000-0002-7823-2667 No Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran Amin Ramezani 0000-0001-5655-8722 No Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Elham Mahmoudi Maymand 0000-0002-2310-4924 No Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Abbas Ghaderi 0000-0003-0849-3375 Yes Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz Iran