Cardiovascular risk and mannose binding lectin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis from southern Brazil

BACKGROUND: Mannose binding lectin (MBL) appears to be involved in susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), in the inflammatory process and in the genesis of atherosclerotic disease. OBJECTIVE: To study the association of MBL serum levels and its genotypic variation with carotid arteries intimal thickness (IMT) in RA patients from Southern Brazil. METHODS: MBL serum levels, MBL2 genotyping and IMT were investigated in 90 RA patients along with their demographic, clinical and laboratory profile. MBL levels and MBL2 genotyping were evaluated in 90 healthy controls. RESULTS: A significant lower MBL serum concentration was observed in patients with RA in relation to controls (528 ng/mL vs 937.5 ng/mL, p = 0.05, respectively). The median IMT in RA patients was 0.59 mm (0.51 to 0.85 mm). There was no correlation between levels of MBL with disease activity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, autoantibodies presence or IMT (p = NS). A weak and negative correlation was found between MBL and CRP levels (Rho = −0.24; p = 0.02;). The MBL2 variant at codon 54 (variant B) and HYPA haplotype were the most frequently observed in the RA sample (67.5% and 31.7%). MBL2 wild type (A/A) were associated with lower IMT when compared with heterozygotes (A/O; p = 0.04) and low producers (O/O; p = 0.05). In addition, high producers genotypes had lower levels of CRP when compared with medium (p = 0.04) or with low producers (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: RA patients had lower MBL levels than controls. MBL were negatively associated with CRP serum levels; low MBL genotypes producers increased thickness of the IMT than high producers.