Description
Ficolin-1, and also commonly termed M-ficolin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FCN1 gene. It is mapped to 9q34. 3. The ficolin family of proteins are characterized by the presence of a leader peptide, a short N-terminal segment, followed by a collagen-like region, and a C-terminal fibrinogen-like domain. Ficolins have a crucial role in defense against pneumococcal infection through the lectin complement pathway. Ficolin 1 is predominantly expressed in the peripheral blood leukocytes, and has been postulated to function as a plasma protein with elastin-binding activity