In keeping with a potential association of MBL with certain SSc disease manifestations, MBL levels also correlated with the mRSS and the SSc HAQ score (Figure 2A, B), again supported by genotypic data showing higher mRSS and SSc HAQ scores in cases with wild-type MBL2 genotypes vs. intermediate-producing vs. low-producing genotypes, respectively (mean mRSS score (SD) 11 (9) vs. 7 (5) vs. 5 (3), P <0.01; mean SSc HAQ score 23 (14) vs. 18 (15) vs. 16 (8), P = 0.07). The gene discussed is MBL2; the disease is systemic sclerosis.