Binding Lectin : An Essential Component Of The Innate Immune System Essay

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Mannose-binding lectin is an important component of the innate immune system. MBL is originally synthesized in the liver, circulates throughout the body and has the ability to identify a broad range of pathogens based on recognition of carbohydrate repeats displayed on microbial surfaces .
3.4.1 Discovery of mannose binding lectin
In 1968, a case of an infant with plasma-dependant defect in phagocytosis of yeast particles was described. The cause was related to a deficiency in a plasma factor rather than a primary defect in neutrophil function and the defect was one of the pathogen opsonization. Although it was then unknown, this deficient plasma factor was MBL .
Subsequently, MBL was discovered as a rabbit protein isolated from liver using mannan particles from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and initially termed mannan binding protein (MBP) then the term we know today as MBL was introduced denoting more selective reactivity for that protein. . Later, it was shown that MBL was present in human serum and could activate the complement system when bound to mannan surface . However the first clue to the physiologic functions of MBL was revealed in 1989 when Super and his colleagues revealed that the syndrome characterized by defective yeast opsonization and multiple infections, first reported in 1968, originated from the paucity of functional serum MBL .
3.4.2 Origin of mannose binding lectin
Mannose binding lectin is a member of a family of proteins called collectins (CLs), which

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