Does Kawasaki disease have a retroviral aetiology?
In 18 consecutive children with Kawasaki disease of recent onset, reverse transcriptase (RT) activity was studied in co-cultivated peripheral-blood-mononuclear-cell/lymphoblastoid-cell supernatants. 8 of 18 children, but only 1 of 18 controls, showed RT activity in one or more sample (p = 0.009). RT activity was identified in 14 of 226 samples from patients, but in only 1 of 167 from controls (p less than 0.01). The findings suggest that a retroviral agent may be casually related to Kawasaki disease.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008722:Methods; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000209:etiology*; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000097:blood; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*
D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase