Project description:As Kawasaki disease (KD) shares many clinical features with other more common febrile illnesses and misdiagnosis, leading to a delay in treatment, increases the risk of coronary artery damage, a diagnostic test for KD is urgently needed. We sought to develop a panel of biomarkers that could distinguish between acute KD patients and febrile controls (FC) with sufficient accuracy to be clinically useful.Plasma samples were collected from three independent cohorts of FC and acute KD patients who met the American Heart Association definition for KD and presented within the first 10 d of fever. The levels of 88 biomarkers associated with inflammation were assessed by Luminex bead technology. Unsupervised clustering followed by supervised clustering using a Random Forest model was used to find a panel of candidate biomarkers.A panel of biomarkers commonly available in the hospital laboratory (absolute neutrophil count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, alanine aminotransferase, ?-glutamyl transferase, concentrations of ?-1-antitrypsin, C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen, and platelet count) accurately diagnosed 81-96% of KD patients in a series of three independent cohorts.After prospective validation, this eight-biomarker panel may improve the recognition of KD.
Project description:Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute self-limited vasculitis and the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children in developed countries. No etiologic agent(s) has been identified, and the processes that mediate formation of coronary artery aneurysms and abatement of fever following treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) remain poorly understood. Results: In an initial survey, we used DNA microarrays to examine patterns of gene expression in peripheral whole blood from 20 children with KD; each was sampled during the acute, subacute, and convalescent phases of the illness. Acute KD was characterized by increased relative abundance of gene transcripts associated with innate immune and proinflammatory responses and decreased abundance of transcripts associated with natural killer cells and CD8+ lymphocytes. There was significant temporal variation in transcript levels during the acute disease phase and stabilization thereafter. We confirmed these temporal patterns in a second cohort of 64 patients, and identified additional inter-individual differences in transcript abundance. Notably, higher levels of transcripts of the gene for carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) were associated with an increased percentage of unsegmented neutrophils, fewer days of illness, higher levels of C-reactive protein, and subsequent non-response to IVIG; this last association was confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR in a third cohort of 33 patients, and was independent of day of illness. Conclusions: Acute KD is characterized by dynamic and variable gene-expression programs that highlight the importance of neutrophil activation state and apoptosis in KD pathogenesis. Our findings also support the feasibility of extracting biomarkers associated with clinical prognosis from gene-expression profiles of individuals with systemic inflammatory illnesses. Whole blood (PAXgene tubes) was obtained from 64 Kawasaki disease patients prior to treatment. RNA was amplified using the MessageAmp kit (Ambion), and reverse transcribed. Each sample was labelled with Cy5, and hybridized to a Lymphochip cDNA array along with amplified human reference RNA labelled with Cy3(Universal Human Reference RNA, Stratagene). Analysis was restricted to those array elements (LUIDs) with signal intensity/background of at least 2.5 in either channel for at least 80% of the samples, and a regression correlation of 0.6. Patterns of gene expression were correlated with clinical parameters, including subsequent response to treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). A disease state experiment design type is where the state of some disease such as infection, pathology, syndrome, etc is studied. Phenotype: Patient responded (R) or not (NR) to IVIG therapy. Some patients were not classified because they were treated more than 10 days after onset of fever Keywords: disease_state_design
Project description:ABSTRACT Background. Acute Kawasaki disease (KD) is difficult to distinguish from other acute rash/fever illnesses, in part because the etiologic agent(s) and pathophysiology remain poorly characterized. As a result, diagnosis and critical therapies may be delayed. Methods. We used DNA microarrays to identify possible diagnostic features of KD. We compared gene expression patterns in the blood of 23 children with acute KD and 18 age-matched febrile children with three illnesses that resemble KD. Results. Genes associated with platelet and neutrophil activation were expressed at higher levels in KD patients than in patients with acute adenovirus infections or systemic adverse drug reactions but not in patients with scarlet fever; genes associated with B cell activation were also expressed at higher levels in KD patients than in controls. A striking absence of interferon-stimulated gene expression in the KD patients was confirmed in an independent cohort of KD subjects. We successfully predicted the diagnosis in 21 of 23 KD patients and 7 of 8 adenovirus patients using a set of 38 gene transcripts. Conclusions. These findings provide insight into the molecular features that distinguish KD from other febrile illnesses, and support the feasibility of developing novel diagnostic reagents for KD based on the host response. A disease state experiment design type is where the state of some disease such as infection, pathology, syndrome, etc is studied. Disease State: One of Kawasaki Disease (KD) or control (C) of Scarlet fever (C-sf), adenovirus infection (C-ai) or drug reaction (C-dr) disease_state_design
Project description:Infantile colic is a common self-limiting condition that causes significant distress to parents and caregivers. There is no clear cause, gold standard remedy or preventative action. The role of the family physician is to rule out sinister causes while providing counselling and reassurance for parents. The mainstay of management is parental support and reassurance while looking out for red flags in the baby such as fever, lethargy, distended abdomen and failure to thrive. This article provides a framework to approaching infantile colic and practical pointers to share with parents.
Project description:Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute self-limited vasculitis and the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children in developed countries. No etiologic agent(s) has been identified, and the processes that mediate formation of coronary artery aneurysms and abatement of fever following treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) remain poorly understood. Results: In an initial survey, we used DNA microarrays to examine patterns of gene expression in peripheral whole blood from 20 children with KD; each was sampled during the acute, subacute, and convalescent phases of the illness. Acute KD was characterized by increased relative abundance of gene transcripts associated with innate immune and proinflammatory responses and decreased abundance of transcripts associated with natural killer cells and CD8+ lymphocytes. There was significant temporal variation in transcript levels during the acute disease phase and stabilization thereafter. We confirmed these temporal patterns in a second cohort of 64 patients, and identified additional inter-individual differences in transcript abundance. Notably, higher levels of transcripts of the gene for carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) were associated with an increased percentage of unsegmented neutrophils, fewer days of illness, higher levels of C-reactive protein, and subsequent non-response to IVIG; this last association was confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR in a third cohort of 33 patients, and was independent of day of illness. Conclusions: Acute KD is characterized by dynamic and variable gene-expression programs that highlight the importance of neutrophil activation state and apoptosis in KD pathogenesis. Our findings also support the feasibility of extracting biomarkers associated with clinical prognosis from gene-expression profiles of individuals with systemic inflammatory illnesses. Whole blood RNA (PAXgene tubes) was collected from 20 Kawasaki patients during the acute, sub-acute (post-IVIG treatment) and convalescent phases of the disease. RNA was amplified using the MessageAmp kit (Ambion), and reverse transcribed. Each sample was labelled with Cy5, and hybridized to a Lymphochip cDNA array along with amplified human reference RNA labelled with Cy3(Universal Human Reference RNA, Stratagene). Analysis was restricted to those array elements (LUIDs) with signal intensity/background of at least 2.5 in either channel for at least 80% of the samples, and a regression correlation of 0.6. A disease state experiment design type is where the state of some disease such as infection, pathology, syndrome, etc is studied. Keywords: disease_state_design
Project description:Kawasaki disease (KD) is a common febrile multisystemic inflammatory illness in children that preferentially affects coronary arteries. Children with KD who develop coronary artery aneurysms have a life-long risk of premature coronary artery disease. Hypothesis of inherent predisposition to KD is supported by epidemiological evidence that suggests increased risk of development of disease in certain ethnicities and in children with a previous history of KD in siblings or parents. However, occurrence of cases in clusters, seasonal variation, and very low risk of recurrence suggests an acquired trigger (such as infections) for the development of illness. Epigenetic mechanisms that modulate gene expression can plausibly explain the link between genetic and acquired predisposing factors in KD. Analysis of epigenetic factors can also be used to derive biomarkers for diagnosis and prognostication in KD. Moreover, epigenetic mechanisms can also help in pharmacogenomics with the development of targeted therapies. In this review, we analysed the available literature on epigenetic factors such as methylation, micro-RNAs, and long non-coding RNAs in KD and discuss how these mechanisms can help us better understand the disease pathogenesis and advance the development of new biomarkers in KD.
Project description:In order to perform large-scale genetic studies of Kawasaki disease (KD) in Korea, the Korean Kawasaki Disease Genetics Consortium (KKDGC) was formed in 2008 with 10 hospitals. Since the establishment of KKDGC, there has been a collection of clinical data from a total of 1198 patients, and approximately 5 mL of blood samples per patient (for genomic deoxyribonucleic acid and plasma isolation), using a standard clinical data collection form and a nation-wide networking system for blood sample pick-up. In the clinical risk factor analysis using the collected clinical data of 478 KD patients, it was found that incomplete KD type, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) non-responsiveness, and long febrile days are major risk factors for coronary artery lesions development, whereas low serum albumin concentration is an independent risk factor for IVIG non-responsiveness. In addition, we identified a KD susceptibility locus at 1p31, a coronary artery aneurysm locus (KCNN2 gene), and the causal variant in the C-reactive protein (CRP) promoter region, as determining the increased CRP levels in KD patients, by means of genome-wide association studies. Currently, this consortium is continually collecting more clinical data and genomic samples to identify the clinical and genetic risk factors via a single nucleotide polymorphism chip and exome sequencing, as well as collaborating with several international KD genetics teams. The consortium-based approach for genetic studies of KD in Korea will be a very effective way to understand the unknown etiology and causal mechanism of KD, which may be affected by multiple genes and environmental factors.
Project description:Background: Kawasaki Disease (KD) is a childhood illness of suspected infectious etiology that causes medium-sized muscular arteritis, most critically affecting the coronary arteries. No single diagnostic test exists, hampering early diagnosis and treatment. Approximately 25% of untreated patients develop coronary artery disease, and children who are treated with intravenous gammaglobulin but do not respond are also at high risk. Subacute/chronic arteritis and luminal myofibroblastic proliferation are the pathologic processes occurring in KD CA after the second week of illness, when neutrophilic necrotizing arteritis has subsided. The specific dysregulated immune pathways contributing to subacute/chronic arteritis have been unknown, hampering the development of effective immunomodulatory therapies for patients not responding to intravenous gammaglobulin therapy. Methods and Results: Deep RNA sequencing was performed on KD (n=8) and childhood control (n=7) coronary artery tissues, revealing 1074 differentially expressed mRNAs. Molecular pathways involving T helper cell, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, dendritic cells, and antigen presentation were the most significantly dysregulated. There was significant upregulation of immunoglobulin and type I interferon-stimulated genes. 80 upregulated extracellular genes encoding secreted proteins are candidate biomarkers of KD arteritis. Conclusions: The immune transcriptional profile in KD coronary artery tissues is primarily T helper and cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated, and has features of an antiviral immune response such as type I interferon-stimulated gene expression. This first report of the KD coronary artery transcriptome identifies specific dysregulated immune response pathways that can inform the development of new therapies for and biomarkers of KD arteritis, and provide direction for future etiologic studies.
Project description:ABSTRACT Background. Acute Kawasaki disease (KD) is difficult to distinguish from other acute rash/fever illnesses, in part because the etiologic agent(s) and pathophysiology remain poorly characterized. As a result, diagnosis and critical therapies may be delayed. Methods. We used DNA microarrays to identify possible diagnostic features of KD. We compared gene expression patterns in the blood of 23 children with acute KD and 18 age-matched febrile children with three illnesses that resemble KD. Results. Genes associated with platelet and neutrophil activation were expressed at higher levels in KD patients than in patients with acute adenovirus infections or systemic adverse drug reactions but not in patients with scarlet fever; genes associated with B cell activation were also expressed at higher levels in KD patients than in controls. A striking absence of interferon-stimulated gene expression in the KD patients was confirmed in an independent cohort of KD subjects. We successfully predicted the diagnosis in 21 of 23 KD patients and 7 of 8 adenovirus patients using a set of 38 gene transcripts. Conclusions. These findings provide insight into the molecular features that distinguish KD from other febrile illnesses, and support the feasibility of developing novel diagnostic reagents for KD based on the host response. A disease state experiment design type is where the state of some disease such as infection, pathology, syndrome, etc is studied. Disease State: One of Kawasaki Disease (KD) or control (C) of Scarlet fever (C-sf), adenovirus infection (C-ai) or drug reaction (C-dr)