Increased serum levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in patients with Kawasaki disease.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether serum levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) increase in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) and also correlate with other inflammatory indices.


METHODS
Serum samples from 10 patients with KD, 15 normal healthy subjects, and seven febrile control subjects were assayed for MIF by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).


RESULTS
There was a significant increase in the serum levels of MIF in the acute stage of KD [113.06 (range 20.6-157.36) ng/mL] compared with those in the subacute stage [28.11 (8.57-143.48) ng/mL, p<0.01], normal controls [12.95 (8.40-18.67) ng/mL, p<0.001], and febrile controls [36.58 (21.31-59.67) ng/mL, p = 0.01]. The increase in MIF correlated with an increase in interleukin-6 (IL-6) (r = 0.52, p = 0.047).


CONCLUSIONS
MIF may be a useful marker in the acute stage of KD and may provide important clues to the pathogenesis of this disease.
Department of Paediatrics, Institute for immunology and Immunological Diseases, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
T J
TJ
Lee
J K
JK
Chun
S I
SI
Yeon
J S
JS
Shin
D S
DS
Kim
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000097:blood*
D015850:Interleukin-6; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors