All issues > Volume 36(9); 1993

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1993;36(9):1197-1202. Published online September 15, 1993.

Changes of IgG Subclasses in the Sera of the Children with Kawasaki Disease

Seog Beom SB Cho¹, Sun Kyu SK Park¹, Pyoung Han PH Hwang¹, Jung Soo JS Kim¹, Sa Hyoung SH Choi¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Presbyterian Medical Center, Chon Ju, Korea

Abstract

Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitis of infancy and early childhood characterized by high fever, rash, mucositis, lymphadenopathy and coronary artery damage. The failure to indentify a causative organism using convetional culture and serological techniques, and the lack of response to antibiotics indicate that the disorder is probably not due to any known bacterial or viral pathogens. During the acute phase of the disease, the alterations of T and B cell functions, changes of cytokine and immunoglobulin levels have been reported. This study was perfomed to investigate the changes of immunoglobulins levels in patients with Kawasaki disease. IgG, IgA, IgM and IgG subclasses were measured using immunoprecipitation and EIA in the sera of patients with Kawasaki disease. The results were as follows: 1) Acute phase reactants such as CRP and ESR were significantly increased in Kawasaki patients compared to those in control patients(p<0.01). 2) Serum IgG levels in Kawasaki disease were markedly increased than those in control patients, while serum IgA and IgM levels showed no significant changes (P:No Significance). 3) IgG1 and IgG4 were predominantly increased in the sera of Kawasaki patients, while IgG2 and IgG3 were not significantly increased (P:No Significance). With these results, unidentified infectious organism with abnormal immune response could be suggested as an etiologic factor of Kawasaki disease.

Keywords :kawasaki disease, Immunoglobulin