Surfactant protein D, also known as SP-D, is a lung surfactant protein part of the collagenous family of lectins called collectin. [5] In humans, SP-D is encoded by the SFTPD gene [6] [7] and is part of the innate immune system. [8] [9] Each SP-D subunit is composed of an N-terminal domain, a collagenous region, a nucleating neck region, and a C-terminal lectin domain. [5] [10] Three of these subunits assemble to form a homotrimer, which further assemble into a tetrameric complex. [5] [10]
Surfactant protein D has been shown to interact with DMBT1, [11] [12] and hemagglutinin of influenza A virus. [13] Post-translational modification of SP-D i.e. S-nitrosylation switches its function. [14] [15] [16]