All issues > Volume 46(8); 2003

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 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 MH Park¹, Hye Lim HL Jung¹, Ju Hee JH Yang¹, Jung-Yeon JY Shim¹, Deok Soo DS Kim¹, Jae Won JW Shim¹, Moon Soo MS Park¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence Hye Lim HL 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.

Keywords :Kawasaki disease, Coronary artery lesion, VEGF