Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor as a Predictive Risk Factor for the Occurrence of
Coronary Artery Lesions in Kawasaki Disease

Park, Min Hyuk; Jung, Hye Lim; Yang, Ju Hee; Shim, Jung-Yeon; Kim, Deok Soo; Shim, Jae Won; Park, Moon Soo

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Pediatric Society 2003;46(8):811-816.
Published online August 15, 2003.

Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor as a Predictive Risk Factor for the Occurrence of Coronary Artery Lesions in Kawasaki Disease

Min Hyuk Park, Hye Lim Jung, Ju Hee Yang, Jung-Yeon Shim, Deok Soo Kim, Jae Won Shim, Moon Soo Park

Department of Pediatrics, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

가와사끼병에서 관상동맥류 발생에 관한 혈청 Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor의 임상적 의의

박민혁^, 정혜림^, 양주희^, 심정연^, 김덕수^, 심재원^, 박문수

성균관대학교 의과대학 강북삼성병원 소아과

Correspondence:
Hye Lim Jung, Email: jungped@samsung.co.kr

Abstract

Purpose
: Kawasaki disease is an acute systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology with a predilection for the coronary arteries. Vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) is a cytokine which promotes vascular permeability and angiogenesis. We investigated serum VEGF(sVEGF) levels in Kawasaki disease to determine whether sVEGF level can be used as a risk factor to predict the occurrence of coronary artery lesions(CAL) in Kawasaki disease.
Methods
: We measured sVEGF levels in 11 patients with Kawasaki disease in acute phase(patient group)and 11 normal children(control group) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) method. We investigated the relationship between sVEGF levels and the lumen diameters of coronary artery and other potential CAL risk factors; duration of fever, hemoglobin, WBC counts, platelet counts, ESR, CRP and LDH levels.
Results
: SVEGF levels of patients in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease(mean 847.9?95.7 pg/ mL) were significantly higher than that of normal controls(mean 279.9?50.6 pg/mL; P<0.05). SVEGF levels showed significant positive correlation with the lumen diameters of the coronary artery(P<0.05, rs=0.75) in the patient group. There was no significant correlation between sVEGF levels and duration of fever or other laboratory measurements.
Conclusion
: Our results support the notion that sVEGF level may be considered as a predictive indicator for the occurrence of coronary artery lesions in Kawasaki disease.

Key Words: Kawasaki disease, Coronary artery lesion, VEGF