Mannose-Binding Lectin and Risk of Cardiovascular Events and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes: A Danish Cohort Study

Objective: Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is linked to risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in diabetes, but the nature of the association is unclear. We investigated the association between MBL and the risk of cardiovascular events (CVE) and all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes.

Research design and methods: In a cohort study of 7,588 patients with type 2 diabetes, we measured serum MBL in 7,305 patients and performed MBL expression genotyping in 3,043 patients. We grouped serum MBL and MBL expression genotypes into three categories: low, intermediate, and high. Outcomes were CVE (myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary revascularization, unstable angina, or cardiovascular death) and all-cause mortality. The association with outcomes was examined by spline and Cox regression analyses.

Results: Serum MBL and CVE showed a U-shaped association. Compared with the intermediate serum MBL category, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for CVE was 1.82 (95% CI, 1.34-2.46) for the low-MBL category and 1.48 (95% CI, 1.14-1.92) for the high-MBL category. We found a similar U-shaped association for all-cause mortality, but with lower risk estimates. Compared with the intermediate MBL expression genotype, the adjusted HR for CVE was 1.40 (95% CI, 0.87-2.25) for the low-expression genotype and 1.44 (95% CI, 1.01-2.06) for the high-expression genotype. MBL expression genotype was not associated with all-cause mortality.

Conclusions: Both serum MBL and MBL expression genotype showed a U-shaped association with CVE risk in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Our findings suggest that serum MBL is a risk factor for CVD in this population.