Association of Mannose-Binding Lectin Deficiency with Cryptosporidiosis

The mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a key component of the innate immune sys-tem [1–3], and like the Toll-like receptors [4], it is a “pattern recognition receptor” that recognizes “pathogen-associated mo-lecular patterns ” [2, p. 16]. This protein is an ancient, highly conserved C type lec-tin that circulates in the blood and binds to specific surface carbohydrates on a wide array of infectious agents, including vi-ruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites [1, 2, 5, 6]. MBL binding results in activation of the lectin complement pathway and op-sonophagocytosis of the target organism. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in th