© 2009 The Authors. doi: 10.2340/00015555-0582 Journal Compilation © 2009 Acta Dermato-Venereologica. ISSN 0001-5555 Sir, Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) is an important member of the innate immune system. Deficiency of MBL has been associated with increased propensity to infections, particularly in childhood (1). MBL deficiency is the most frequent immunodeficiency and 10–15% of the Caucasian norm...

AIMS Experimental data point towards a favourable effect of low serum concentrations of complement mannose-binding lectin (MBL) on myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. As comparable data on the role of MBL in human I/R injury is lacking, we investigated the influence of low serum MBL concentrations on mortality of patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoi...

1 Super M, Gillies SD, Foley S, Sastry K, Schweinle JE, Silverman VJ, et al. Distinct and overlapping functions of allelic forms of human mannose binding protein. Nat Genet 1992;2:50–5. 2 Sumiya M, Super M, Tabona P, Levinsky RJ, Arai T, Turner MW, et al. Molecular basis of opsonic defect in immunodeficient children. Lancet 1991;337:1569–70. 3 Garred P, Larsen F, Madsen HO, Koch C. Mannose-bind...

After complement system (CS) activation, the sequential production of complement products increases cell injury and death through opsonophagocytosis, cytolysis, adaptive, and inflammatory cell responses. These responses potentiate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury after ischemic stroke and reperfusion. Activation of the CS via mannose binding lectin (MBL)-initiated lectin pathway is kno...

Chagas disease (CD) is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, whose sugar moieties are recognized by mannan binding lectin (MBL), a soluble pattern-recognition molecule that activates the lectin pathway of complement. MBL levels and protein activity are affected by polymorphisms in the MBL2 gene. We sequenced the MBL2 promoter and exon 1 in 196 chronic CD patients and 202 controls. The MBL2*C allele, whi...

Mannose-binding lectin has recently been identified as a modifier of severity in cystic fibrosis, although studies have produced differing results and the mechanism of action remains unclear. The current authors have studied large cohorts of adults (n=298) and children (n=260) to explore this apparent relationship further. Adults with two structural mutations, but not heterozygotes, had signifi...