Effects of levels of mannose binding lectin and mannose binding lectin polymorphisms to the response of treatment in chronic hepatitis C infection

Objectives: Hepatitis C virus is the most frequent cause of chronic liver disease. It is estimated that approximately 170 million people are infected with HCV worldwide. The natural history and outcome of HCV infections are usually associated with the interaction of virus and the host immune response. Mannose binding lectin, a key factor of the immune system, has genetic polymorphism, and individuals who carry certain genotypes of mannose binding lectin are known to be more prone severe and prolonged infectious diseases. A role for mannnose binding lectin in hepatitis C virus infection had been indicated by few previous studies examining mannose binding lectin levels and polymorphisms in relation to disease progression and response to treatment. We undertook this study to investigate the correlation of treatment response with serum concentration of mannose binding lectin and polymorphisms of mannose binding lectin gene.Material and Methods: In this study, serum mannose binding lectin concentration was measured by ELISA and codon 54 mutation of mannose binding lectin gene was searched with PCR-RFLP method both in chronic hepatitis C infected patients and control group. Fifty hepatitis C infected patients treated with combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin and 75 healthy controls were included into study.Results: Codon 54 mutation was increased in hepatitis C infected patient compared to control subjects but there was no statistically significant difference between two groups. There was statistically significant decrease in serum mannose binding lectin concentration in subject with codon 54 gene mutation. Relatively higher decrease in mannose binding lectin concentration in hepatitis C virus infected patients compared to control group was not statistically significant. Also mutation frequencies and mannose binding lectin serum concentration were similar between responders and non-responders.Conclusion: Low mannose binding lectin levels does not increase susceptibility to hepatitis C infection, and mannose binding concentrations does not have a major influence on the course of the disease and response to antiviral therapy but a larger sample size is necessary to confirm the present results.