Plasma Cyclooxygenase-2 as a Potential Biomarker for Early Diagnosis of Kawasaki Disease

Abstract

Background: Previous research demonstrated the association between cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to Kawasaki disease (KD). This study aims to detect the plasma concentration of COX-2 in different phases of KD patients and evaluate the relationship between COX-2 level and coronary artery lesion formation, therapeutic response to intravenous immunoglobulin. Methods: Plasma COX-2 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in KD patients during the acute (a-KD, n = 52), subacute (s-KD, n = 46), and convalescent (c-KD, n = 43) phase. Results: The concentration of COX-2 in the a-KD group was significantly higher than that in the s-KD, c-KD, healthy control or febrile control group, respectively. There was no difference in the levels of COX-2 between the KD with or without coronary artery lesion subgroups, intravenous immunoglobulin resistant, and sensitive subgroups in the a-KD group, respectively. Conclusions: The plasma concentration of COX-2 might be a novel potential biomarker of acute KD.

Keywords:

• Kawasaki disease
• cyclooxygenase-2
• coronary artery lesion
• intravenous immunoglobulin

Acknowledgment

We appreciate that the Center Laboratory at the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University provided us with the experimental equipment and technical guidance necessary to complete our work.

Informed consent

Informed consent for blood sample analysis was obtained from the parents of patients and controls.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University (No. 2016-S155).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Youth Fund of Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province under Grant [No. 2021JJ40928].