Mannose Binding Lectin Gene Haplotype in Iranian Patients with Hepatitis C Infection

Background and Aims: Persistent infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) leads to liver cirrhosis (LC) and often to liver cancer. Mannose binding lectin (MBL) is a C-type serum lectin, which plays an important role in innate immunity by activating the classical complement pathway. Variants of the MBL have been shown to be associated with low serum concentrations of the protein and to predispose to bacterial, fungal and viral infections. This study was undertaken to investigate the association between polymorphisms of MBL gene and hepatitis C virus infection. Methods: We determined genotypes of two promoters and three exon 1 SNPs in mbl2 by SSP-PSRand grouped these genotypes according to related amount of functional MBL production in 100 patients infected with hepatitis Cvirus and 100 healthy blood donors in Iranian population. MBL gene mutations were determined by means of polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses. Results: genotypes XA/O or a/a were significantly more frequent among patients infected with hepatitis Cvirus, where VAlVA genotype was more common among donors. Frequency of alleles X, Y, Hand L did not have a significant difference between the two groups as well as alleles HYA, LYA nor LXA. Conclusions: MBL may be one of the factors that influence the course of HCV infection. Additional study on subjects at a high risk for infection with hepatitis C may clarify the role of carriage for the variant allele of mbl2 in a life-long risk of infection.