We have recently shown that the HLA-C2 ligand group is associated with a higher prevalence of P. falciparum parasitemia (19); hence the association of HLA-C*06:02 with increased parasitemia could result from the provision of inhibitory signals to effector cells via KIR2DL1, rather than its role as an antigen-presenting molecule. Here, KIR2DL1 is linked to parasitic infectious disease.