title: Lectin pathway factors in patients suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
abstract: Both complement activation and certain infections (including those with Yersinia sp.) may contribute to the pathogenesis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). We investigated factors specific for the lectin pathway of complement: mannose-binding lectin (MBL), ficolins and MBL-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2), in 144 patients and 98 controls. One hundred and six patients had oligoarticular disease and 38 had polyarticular disease. In 51 patients (out of 133 tested), Yersinia-reactive antibodies were found (JIA Ye+group). MBL deficiency was significantly more frequent in the JIA Ye+group than in patients without Yersinia-reactive antibodies or in controls. Median serum ficolin-2 level was significantly lower (and proportion of values deemed ficolin-2 insufficient greater) in JIA patients irrespective of their Yersinia antibody status. The minority (C) allele at -64 of the FCN2 gene was less frequent among JIA patients than among control subjects. No differences were found in the frequency of FCN3 gene +1637delC or MASP2 +359 A>G mutations nor for median values of serum ficolin-1, ficolin-3 or MASP-2. However, high levels of serum ficolin-3 were under-represented in patients, in contrast to MBL. MBL, ficolin-1, ficolin-2, ficolin-3 and MASP-2 were also readily detectable in synovial fluid samples but at a considerably lower level than in serum. Our findings suggest a possible role for the lectin pathway in the pathogenesis of JIA, perhaps secondary to a role in host defence, and indicate that investigations on the specificity of lectin pathway recognition molecules towards specific infectious agents in JIA might be fruitful.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Department of Microbiology, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kasperkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology of Infections, Institute of Medical Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Łukasz
authors.initials: Ł
authors.lastname: Eppa
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology of Infections, Institute of Medical Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Świerzko
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology of Infections, Institute of Medical Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bartłomiejczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, St Louis Voivodeship Specialist Children's Hospital, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Zbigniew M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Żuber
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Immunology and Nephrology, Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital Research Institute, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Siniewicz-Luzeńczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, St Louis Voivodeship Specialist Children's Hospital, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Elżbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mężyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biochemistry, Tokai University, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Misao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition in Digestive Tract Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Leokadia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bąk-Romaniszyn
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Immunology and Nephrology, Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital Research Institute, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zeman
authors.affiliation: Research Programs Unit, Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Medicum, Immunobiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Helsinki University Central Hospital Laboratory Diagnostics, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8791-9260
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skurnik
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology of Infections, Institute of Medical Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cedzyński
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D037582:Complement Pathway, Mannose-Binding Lectin / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D037102:Lectins / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D037601:Mannose-Binding Lectin / Q000235:genetics*; D050606:Mannose-Binding Protein-Associated Serine Proteases / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D015009:Yersinia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D015008:Yersinia enterocolitica / Q000276:immunology*; D015011:Yersinia pseudotuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D000097604:Ficolins
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D006023:Glycoproteins; D037102:Lectins; D037601:Mannose-Binding Lectin; D050606:Mannose-Binding Protein-Associated Serine Proteases; D000097604:Ficolins; C109662:FCN3 protein, human; C445619:MBL2 protein, human; C105296:MASP2 protein, human