RESEARCH - Serum levels of ficolin-3 (Hakata antigen) in patients with SLE

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J Rheumatol. 2009 Feb 4. [Epub ahead of print]

Serum Levels of Ficolin-3 (Hakata Antigen) in Patients with Systemic

Lupus Erythematosus.

Andersen T, Munthe-Fog L, Garred P, sen S.

From the Department of Clinical Immunology, Section 7631, and the

Department of Rheumatology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen,

Copenhagen, Denmark.

OBJECTIVE: Ficolin-3 is a serum protein of putative importance in

autoimmunity. Our objective was to investigate any differential

expression of ficolin-3 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

(SLE) or its clinical subsets.

METHODS: Serum levels of ficolin-3 (S-ficolin-3) were determined in 95

patients with SLE and 103 healthy controls using an ELISA.

RESULTS: Median S-ficolin-3 was 56.1 mug/ml (range 0 to >/= 87.3) and

32.4 mug/ml (10 to >/= 87.3) in patients and controls, respectively (p

< 0.001). Increased S-ficolin-3 was associated with hemolysis,

positive Coombs test, and lymphopenia, but not with SLE Disease

Activity Index scores or C-reactive protein. In one patient without

detectable S-ficolin-3, the FCN3 gene appeared normal.

CONCLUSION: The elevation of S-ficolin-3 and its association with

specific manifestations in SLE may indicate a pathogenetic role of

ficolin-3 in SLE.

PMID: 19208603

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19208603

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