title: Class II major histocompatibility antigen expression on coronary arterial endothelium in a patient with Kawasaki disease.
abstract: To investigate the class II major histocompatibility antigen expression on coronary arterial endothelium of Kawasaki disease and immunophenotypes of the infiltrating cells in the coronary vascular lesions, myocardial sections from a patient who died during the acute stage of Kawasaki disease were studied using an immunoperoxidase technique. The mononuclear cells in the lesions mainly consisted of macrophages and T cells, whereas B cells and NK/K cells were not seen. The majority of T cells reacted with Leu-3a antibodies, and only a few reacted with Leu-2a antibodies. Cells bearing the interleukin-2 receptor, indicative of activated T cells, were also found in the lesions. To determine the distribution of class II antigen, we used anti-HLA-DR antibodies. The massive expression of HLA-DR antigen on mononuclear cells was found in the lesions. In addition, the HLA-DR activation antigen was expressed on the coronary arterial endothelium at the infiltrates in which macrophages and T cells coexisted. In contrast, coronary arterial endothelium did not express HLA-DR antigens in the myocardial tissues of controls (n = 4). HLA-DR+ endothelial cells may play an important role in the development of Kawasaki vasculitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Terai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kohno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Namba
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Umemiya
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mikata
mesh_terms: D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000276:immunology*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II