Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) gene polymorphisms: Rapid genotyping by real-time PCR and association with infective endocarditis

Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) was recently demonstrated to be a supportive biomarker for the diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring of infective endocarditis (IE) with a considerable variability in the individual LBP response of IE patients. LBP was measured by chemiluminescence assay in sera from 78 IE patients. Moreover, three new LightCycler PCR assays have been developed for sequence variation analysis and the distribution of the five LBP polymorphisms c.− 1978C > T, c.− 836T > C, c.291C > T, c.613A > G and c.1306C > T was determined in IE patients and healthy blood donors. A weak association with IE was determined for the two single nucleotide polymorphisms c.291C > T and c.613A > G; the frequencies of the other polymorphisms did not differ significantly between IE patients and controls. Elevated serum LBP concentrations of infective patients did not correlate with genotypes. The association of the polymorphisms c.291C > T and c.613A > G suggest a role of LBP in the disease manifestation of IE.