Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Primary Sjogren's Syndrome Associated with Lung Adenocarcinoma: Probing the Potential Common Pathogenic Mechanisms and Experimental Verification
10:21

Primary Sjogren's Syndrome Associated with Lung Adenocarcinoma: Probing the Potential Common Pathogenic Mechanisms and Experimental Verification

Published on: September 20, 2024

Ficolins and Mannose-Binding Lectin in Danish patients with sarcoidosis

Claus Bo Svendsen1, Tina Hummelshøj, Lea Munthe-Fog

  • 1Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology, Statens Serum Institut, 5, Artillerivej, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark. clv@ssi.dk

Respiratory Medicine
|July 1, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Plasma Ficolin-3 levels are significantly lower in sarcoidosis patients compared to healthy controls. This finding suggests Ficolin-3 may play a role in sarcoidosis, but it is not a reliable prognostic marker.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Pulmonary Medicine
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Mannose-Binding Lectin (MBL) is a known prognostic marker in pulmonary diseases.
  • Ficolins share structural and functional similarities with MBL and may be implicated in pulmonary disease pathogenesis.
  • Understanding the role of lectins like Ficolins in sarcoidosis is crucial for disease management.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare plasma concentrations of Ficolin-2, Ficolin-3, and MBL between Danish sarcoidosis patients and healthy controls.
  • To investigate the potential prognostic significance of Ficolin and MBL plasma levels in sarcoidosis.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective study including 46 sarcoidosis patients and 51 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
  • Plasma concentrations of Ficolin-2, Ficolin-3, and MBL were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  • Statistical analysis was performed to compare groups and assess correlations.

Main Results:

  • Significantly lower mean plasma Ficolin-3 levels were observed in sarcoidosis patients (14.9 μg/ml) compared to controls (21.6 μg/ml) (p<0.001).
  • No significant differences in plasma concentrations of Ficolin-2 or MBL were found between patients and controls.
  • Ficolin-3 plasma levels correlated inversely with the CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio in sarcoidosis patients (Spearman's Rho=-0.37; p=0.021).

Conclusions:

  • Plasma Ficolin-3 concentrations are reduced in patients with sarcoidosis, suggesting a potential role in the disease's pathophysiology.
  • Ficolin-3 plasma levels were not found to be a marker of disease activity or possess prognostic significance in this sarcoidosis cohort.
  • Further research is needed to elucidate the precise involvement of Ficolin-3 in sarcoidosis.

Related Concept Videos

Selectins01:25

Selectins

Cell adhesion is  an essential aspect of multicellularity. While stable cell interactions usually occur between cells of the same type, transient cell interactions occur between cells of different tissue types, such as between neutrophils and endothelial cells. Selectins are one class of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) that bind carbohydrate ligands to form transient cell adhesion. They are rod-like proteins with a long extracellular part of variable length ending with the lectin domain, which...
Fibril-associated Collagen01:11

Fibril-associated Collagen

Fibril-associated collagens are a type of collagens present in the extracellular matrix with interrupted triple helices or FACIT (Fibril-associated collagens interrupted triple-helices). FACIT help connect and attach the collagen fibrils with each other as well as with other proteins of the extracellular matrix.
For example, the type II collagen fibrils in cartilage have covalently bound type IX fibril-associated collagens at regular intervals. Other types of fibril-associated collagens are...
Actin Filament Depolymerization01:19

Actin Filament Depolymerization

Actin filaments (F-actin) are composed of actin subunits. The dissociation of actin monomers can occur from either end of F-actin. The rate of dissociation is faster from the minus-end or the pointed end, where the actin subunits exist with a bound ADP, together known as ADP-actin. The depolymerization of F-actin is aided by proteins, including the actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF) and cofilin family of proteins, gelsolin, and glia maturation factor (GMF).
In F-actin, the ADF/cofilin proteins...