HLA-C and Autoimmunity: HLA-C*07 is a ligand for activating and inhibiting killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) expressed by natural killer cells, and αβ and γδ T cells (40), and it has been suggested that a defect in KIR binding to HLA-C*07 may account for the association of this HLA allele with autoimmunity (31).