ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of present study was to determine the distribution of the alleles of mannose-binding lectin gene and promoter variants in renal transplant recipients and seek correlation between these variants and diseases that cause renal dysfunctions. METHODS: One hundred and thirteen renal recipients' samples were compared with 120 normal controls from Azarbaijan population of Iran. Blood samples were obtained from renal transplant recipients who received a kidney between March 2004 and July 2005. Mannose-binding lectin genotypes were investigated by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: Allelic and genotypic frequency of the polymorphism at position- 550, -221, +4 and at codon 52, 54 and 57 did not show statistical differences between recipients and controls (P > 0.05) but significant frequency of allele B (codon 54) (P = 0.02) and Lx haplotype (P = 0.002) of promoter was observed in patients with Lupus Erythematosus and infection source of renal dysfunctions. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide evidence that presence of different alleles and haplotypes that cause low concentration of mannose-binding lectin in serum is a risk factor for severity of systemic Lupus Erythematosus and susceptibility to renal infections that cause renal dysfunction.
