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A Lectin HPLC Method to Enrich Selectively-glycosylated Peptides from Complex Biological Samples
Published on: October 1, 2009
Good agreement between capillary and venous sampling for lectin pathway proteins
Luregn J Schlapbach1, Andreas Woerner, Steffen Thiel
1Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pediatrics, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland. luregn.schlapbach@mater.org.au
Immunobiology
|July 4, 2012
Summary
Capillary blood samples show high agreement with venous samples for measuring lectin pathway proteins, except for M-ficolin. This finding supports using small capillary samples for assessing these proteins in infants.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Complement System Biology
Background:
- The lectin pathway, particularly mannose-binding lectin (MBL), is crucial in innate immunity.
- Previous studies on lectin pathway proteins relied solely on venous blood samples.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the agreement between capillary and venous blood samples for lectin pathway protein measurements.
- To determine if capillary sampling is a viable alternative for assessing these proteins in infants.
Main Methods:
- A prospective study involving 31 infants with suspected early-onset sepsis.
- Simultaneous measurement of lectin pathway proteins in capillary and venous blood samples.
- Analysis using Bland-Altman plots and calculation of mean capillary to venous ratios.
Main Results:
- Excellent agreement was found for MBL, H-ficolin, MASP-2, MASP-3, and MAp44 between capillary and venous samples.
- Moderate agreement was observed for M-ficolin.
- Mean capillary to venous ratios indicated high concordance for most tested proteins.
Conclusions:
- Capillary blood sampling provides reliable measurements for most lectin pathway proteins.
- This validates the use of small-volume capillary samples for neonatal and pediatric assessments.
- M-ficolin measurements may require further investigation using venous samples.

