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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: OBJECTIVE, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adult, Aged, Bacterial Infections, Case-Control Studies, Cohort Studies, Female, Humans, Hungary, Immunity, Innate, Liver Cirrhosis, Liver Diseases, Male, Mannose-Binding Lectin, Middle Aged, Proportional Hazards Models, Risk Factors, Time Factors.
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Does mannose-binding lectin deficiency confer risk for bacterial infections in a large Hungarian cohort of patients with liver cirrhosis? Context: Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a serum lectin synthesized by the liver and involved in innate host defense. MBL deficiency increases the risk of various infectious diseases mostly in immune-deficient conditions. Bacterial infections are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in liver cirrhosis due to the relative immuncompromised state. Sera of 929 patients with various chronic liver diseases [autoimmune liver diseases (ALD), 406; viral hepatitis C (HCV), 185; and liver cirrhosis (LC) with various etiologies, 338] and 296 healthy controls (HC) were assayed for MBL concentration. Furthermore, a follow-up, observational study was conducted to assess MBL level as a risk factor for clinically significant bacterial infections in cirrhotic patients. MBL level and the prevalence of absolute MBL deficiency (<100 ng/ml) was not significantly different between patients and controls (ALD: 14.5%, HCV: 11.9%, LC: 10.7%, HC: 15.6%). In cirrhotic patients, the risk for infection was significantly higher among MBL deficient subjects as compared to non-deficient ones (50.0% vs. 31.8%, p=0.039). In a logistic regression analysis, MBL deficiency was an independent risk factor for infections (OR: 2.14 95% CI: 1.03-4.45, p=0.04) after adjusting for Child-Pugh score, co-morbidities, gender, and age. In a Kaplan-Meier analysis, MBL deficiency was associated with a shorter time to develop the first infectious complication (median days: 579 vs. 944, pBreslow=0.016, pLogRank=0.027) and was identified as an independent predictor in a multivariate Cox-regression analysis (p=0.003, OR: 2.33, 95% CI: 1.34-4.03).
assistant
MBL deficiency is associated with a higher probability and shorter time of developing infections in liver cirrhosis, further supporting the impact of the MBL molecule on the host defense. Final Decision: yes