Is there a role for mannan/mannose‐binding lectin (MBL) in defence against infection following chemotherapy for cancer?

It is now nearly 4 decades since the relationship between the degree of neutropenia and the risk of bacterial and fungal infections was first recognized in patients treated for cancer [1]. Bodey et al. [1] made the observation that as granulocyte counts fell, the frequency, duration and severity of infections dramatically increased. Infections were noted to be worse during relapse of the underlying disease and the failure of leucocytes to recover following an infection carried a very poor prognosis. It is now clear that this is largely determined by both the underlying disease and potency of chemotherapy. Interestingly, however, it is now also apparent that patients differ in their susceptibility to infection in the context of neutropenia. This indicates that other factors are operating to protect patients from infection in this immunocompromised state.

[1]  Michael R Hamblin,et al.  Mannose-binding Lectin-deficient Mice Are Susceptible to Infection with Staphylococcus aureus , 2004, The Journal of experimental medicine.

[2]  Morten Dahl,et al.  A Population-based Study of Morbidity and Mortality in Mannose-binding Lectin Deficiency , 2004, The Journal of experimental medicine.

[3]  C. Hack,et al.  Mannan binding lectin in febrile adults: no correlation with microbial infection and complement activation , 2003, Journal of clinical pathology.

[4]  M. Turner,et al.  No strong relationship between mannan binding lectin or plasma ficolins and chemotherapy‐related infections , 2003, Clinical and experimental immunology.

[5]  N. Klein,et al.  Assays for human mannose-binding lectin. , 2003, Journal of immunological methods.

[6]  M. Christiansen,et al.  Low levels of mannose‐binding lectin do not affect occurrence of severe infections or duration of fever in acute myeloid leukaemia during remission induction therapy , 2003, European journal of haematology.

[7]  R. Porcher,et al.  Host defense and inflammatory gene polymorphisms are associated with outcomes after HLA-identical sibling bone marrow transplantation. , 2002, Blood.

[8]  D. Jack,et al.  Enhancement of Complement Activation and Opsonophagocytosis by Complexes of Mannose-Binding Lectin with Mannose-Binding Lectin-Associated Serine Protease After Binding to Staphylococcus aureus1 , 2002, The Journal of Immunology.

[9]  C. Mullighan,et al.  Mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphisms are associated with major infection following allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation. , 2002, Blood.

[10]  D. Jack,et al.  Mannose-binding lectin accelerates complement activation and increases serum killing of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C. , 2001, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[11]  Wendy Thomson,et al.  Mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphisms as a susceptibility factor for chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis. , 2001, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[12]  N. Klein,et al.  Deficiency of mannose-binding lectin and burden of infection in children with malignancy: a prospective study , 2001, The Lancet.

[13]  S. Thiel,et al.  Association between deficiency of mannose-binding lectin and severe infections after chemotherapy , 2001, The Lancet.

[14]  D. Jack,et al.  Mannose‐binding lectin: targeting the microbial world for complement attack and opsonophagocytosis , 2001, Immunological reviews.

[15]  M. Paesmans,et al.  A comparison of outcome from febrile neutropenic episodes in children compared with adults: results from four EORTC studies , 1997, British journal of haematology.

[16]  Y. S. Sathe,et al.  Quantitative relationships between circulating leukocytes and infection in patients with acute leukemia. , 1966, Annals of internal medicine.

[17]  D. Kilpatrick Handbook of animal lectins : properties and biomedical applications : a compendium of galectins, collectins, selectins, pentraxins and other carbohydrate-binding proteins from throughout the animal kingdom , 2000 .