title: CTLA-4 (CD152) expression in peripheral blood T cells in Kawasaki disease.
abstract: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute febrile illness of early childhood caused by vasculitis. Whether or not peripheral blood T cells are activated in acute KD remains uncertain, as some reports have presented evidence of peripheral blood T cell activation, whereas others suggest that the level of peripheral blood T cell activation is low during acute KD. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4, CD152) is a surface molecule of activated T cells. We therefore investigated intracellular CTLA-4 expression in the peripheral blood T cells of patients with acute KD as a marker of T cell activation. We collected blood samples from 20 patients with KD and six with Epstein-Barr virus infectious mononucleosis (EBV-IM) who were admitted to our hospital, as well as 13 healthy children. We determined the intracellular expression of CTLA-4 in T cells by flow cytometry. We demonstrated that the intracellular expression of CTLA-4 is up-regulated in peripheral blood CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells at the early part of the acute stage in KD. However, the mean percentages of intracellular T cells expressing CTLA-4 in EBV-IM patients were about fourfold higher than those in T cells from patients with acute KD. Our results suggested that the level of activation of peripheral blood T cells is very low during acute KD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Yamaguchi, Japan. tmatsu@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anwar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ichiyama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D000069594:Abatacept; D000208:Acute Disease; D015703:Antigens, CD; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation / Q000032:analysis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D060908:CTLA-4 Antigen; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D018796:Immunoconjugates; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; D015415:Biomarkers; D017252:CD3 Complex; D060908:CTLA-4 Antigen; C556706:CTLA4 protein, human; D018796:Immunoconjugates; D000069594:Abatacept