title: Maturation of macrophages from peripheral blood monocytes in Kawasaki disease: immunocytochemical and immunoelectron microscopic study.
abstract: Kawasaki disease (KD) is regarded as a cytokine-associated disorder. Despite intensive investigation into the etiology of KD, this remains unclear, although monocytes and macrophages are thought to play an important role. We examined peripheral blood monocytes using a monoclonal antibody, PM-2K, which recognizes mature macrophages but not monocytes. This study was conducted in 12 patients with KD, three patients with sepsis and 12 control subjects. Approximately 8% of whole peripheral blood monocytes from patients with acute KD were observed to be PM-2K positive. Approximately 15-20% of peripheral blood CD14+ monocytes from these patients were positive for PM-2K antibody (as determined by immunoelectron microscopy). PM-2K-positive monocytes had significantly fewer numbers of intracytoplasmic peroxidase-positive granules than monocytes from control subjects. In contrast, PM-2K-negative monocytes from patients with acute KD had a significantly greater number of peroxidase-positive granules in the cytoplasm than in those from controls. Monocytes from patients with sepsis displayed PM-2K immunocytochemical staining, similar to that in monocytes from patients with KD. These results suggest that during the acute stage of KD, monocytes partly differentiate into macrophages in the peripheral circulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Ube, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ariga
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koga
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D008264:Macrophages / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D009000:Monocytes / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology