Associations of ficolins and mannose-binding lectin with acute myeloid leukaemia in adults

We investigated clinical associations of ficolins and mannose-binding lectin (MBL) in 157 patients suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Concentrations of ficolin-1, ficolin-2, ficolin-3 and MBL (before chemotherapy) in serum were determined as were selected polymorphisms of the corresponding genes ( FCN1, FCN2, FCN3 and MBL2 ). The control group (C) consisted of 267 healthy unrelated individuals. Median level of ficolin-1 in patients was lower ( p < 0.000001) while median levels of ficolin-2, ficolin-3 and MBL were higher ( p < 0.000001, p < 0.000001 and p = 0.0016, respectively) compared with controls. These findings were generally associated with AML itself, however the highest MBL levels predicted higher risk of severe hospital infections (accompanied with bacteremia and/or fungaemia) ( p = 0.012) while the lowest ficolin-1 concentrations tended to be associated with prolonged (> 7 days) fever ( p = 0.026). Genotyping indicated an association of G/G homozygosity (corresponding to FCN1 gene − 542 G > A polymorphism) with malignancy [ p = 0.004, OR = 2.95, 95% CI (1.41–6.16)]. Based on ROC analysis, ficolin-1, -2 and -3 may be considered candidate supplementary biomarkers of AML. Their high potential to differentiate between patients from non-malignant controls but also from persons suffering from other haematological cancers (multiple myeloma and lymphoma) was demonstrated.