Objective: To explore the effects of mannose-binding lectins (MBL) in pulmonary aspergillosis.
Methods: A total of 96 adult Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups of aspergillus fumigatus (A.fumigatus) pulmonary, colonization and normal (n = 32 each). An intramuscular injection (0.6 mg/kg × 3 d) of dexamethasone sodium phosphate and a nostril drop (1 × 10⁷ cfu/ml) were administered for modeling. The animals were sacrificed at Days 3, 7, 14 and 28 post-inoculation and blood samples were obtained by cardiac puncture for MBL detection. Lung tissues were prepared for routine pathology examinations. The lung tissues infected with A.fumigatus showed remarkable inflammatory reactions. The serum value of MBL was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). And the results were compared and analyzed.
Results: All infected lung tissues showed remarkable inflammatory reactions. The serum MBL levels of A.fumigatus pulmonary and colonization groups were (8.57 ± 0.88) and (7.87 ± 0.45) ng/ml and both significantly increased compared with non-pulmonary aspergillosis group (P < 0.05). The area under the curve was 0.744 (P = 0.002). The diagnosis of MBL had a sensitivity of 75.0%, a specificity of 86.7%, a positive predictive value of 87.1% and a negative predictive value of 74.3% for pulmonary aspergillosis. The inflammatory cells infiltration were detected in pathology in infection and colonization groups at Day 3 and Day 7.
Conclusion: The detection of serum MBL may be used for the diagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis.