MBL2 genetic polymorphisms in Italian children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy.

We investigated the role of the polymorphisms in the first exon of MBL2 gene in the susceptibility to recurrent tonsillitis in a selected group of Italian children and healthy controls. Significant difference has been observed in MBL2 genotype and allelic frequencies between children with recurrent tonsillitis and healthy controls matched for sex and age. Children characterized by a "low MBL" producer genotype, namely 00, are more prone to recurrent tonsillitis when compared to the healthy controls. To our knowledge this is the first report on the role of MBL2 polymorphisms in adenotonsillar hypertrophy and our results shown that presence of MBL2 00 genotype could be used as a prognostic marker in subjects with adenotonsillar hypertrophy.