title: Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor, interleukin 2 receptor, and interferon-gamma in Kawasaki disease involved coronary-artery lesions.
abstract: We investigated 45 patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) and report the first simultaneous determination of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in the serum during acute phase. Serum levels of TNF were measured by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum levels of soluble IL-2R and IFN-gamma were measured by a sandwich enzyme immunoassay and radioimmunoassay, respectively. Serum levels of TNF, IL-2R, and IFN-gamma were seen to increase during the acute phase of KD. In KD patients with coronary-artery lesions (CAL), the percentage of positive cases for TNF (greater than or equal to 10 U/ml), IL-2R (greater than or equal to 1056 U/ml), and IFN-gamma (greater than or equal to 0.3 U/ml) was higher than that in patients without CAL. Our results suggest that aggressive activation of immunocompetent cells develops in KD with CAL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yabuta
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma