Abstract
Background
Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a circulating collectin that is part of the innate immune response. We explored the serum levels of MBL in persons with different forms of coccidioidomycosis.
Methods
Serum MBL was measured by ELISA from samples obtained from healthy donors with immunity to Coccidioides, and those with various forms of active coccidioidomycosis. Blood cell specimens from a subgroup of subjects with active coccidioidomycosis were examined for single nucleotide polymorphisms of the MBL gene and promoter regions.
Results
The control group comprised 29 healthy immune subjects. Patient groups with active coccidioidomycosis consisted of 20 patients with symptomatic primary pulmonary coccidioidomycosis, 26 with non-meningeal disseminated coccidioidomycosis, and nine with coccidioidal meningitis. The group with active coccidioidomycosis was significantly older and more likely to be male than the control group (for both, P < 0.001). The mean ± SEM level of serum MBL in the healthy controls was 169.4 ± 28.6 ng/ml, significantly higher than the 79.2 ± 10.9 ng/ml for all active groups (P < 0.001). Moreover, the active coccidioidomycosis group was significantly more likely to have serum MBL level ≤70 ng/ml compared to the control group (P = 0.001). Genetic analysis in 27 subjects with active coccidioidomycosis revealed marked variation based on race and ethnicity. Among a subgroup of 10 white, non-hispanic men with active coccidioidomycosis, there was a significant association between the H and P haplotypes and MBL levels ≤70 ng/ml (P < 0.036 and P < 0.035, respectively).
Conclusions
These data suggest that there is an association between low serum MBL levels and symptomatic coccidioidomycosis.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a Merit Review grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the NIH NIAID grant IPO1AI061310-01 and from support from the BIO5 Institute and the Valley Fever Center for Excellence of the University of Arizona. We appreciate the work, advice, and support of Walter Klimecki, D.V.M., Ph.D., on genetic analysis, and we thank Drs. Suzanne Johnson and Demosthenes Pappagianis of the University of California at Davis for their kind donation of T27K. Some of the data were presented at the 107th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Toronto, Canada in May 2007.
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Ampel, N.M., Dionne, S.O., Giblin, A. et al. Mannose-Binding Lectin Serum Levels are Low in Persons with Clinically Active Coccidioidomycosis. Mycopathologia 167, 173–180 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-008-9172-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-008-9172-6