Association of mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphisms with antiphospholipid syndrome, cardiovascular disease and chronic damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Although the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in our SLE patients carrying MBL-deficient genotypes was 3.3 times higher than in patients with non-deficient genotypes, only APS was independently associated with cardiovascular events. This suggests that the higher frequency of thrombotic events in SLE patients carrying MBL-deficient genotypes might be related to coexisting APS.