J Korean Pediatr Soc.  2003 Aug;46(8):811-816.

Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor as a Predictive Risk Factor for the Occurrence of Coronary Artery Lesions in Kawasaki Disease

• Park MH
• Jung HL
• Yang JH
• Shim JY
• Kim DS
• Shim JW
• Park MS

Abstract

PURPOSE
Kawasaki disease is an acute systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology with a predilection for the coronary arteries. Vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) is a cytokine which promotes vascular permeability and angiogenesis. We investigated serum VEGF(sVEGF) levels in Kawasaki disease to determine whether sVEGF level can be used as a risk factor to predict the occurrence of coronary artery lesions(CAL) in Kawasaki disease.
METHODS
We measured sVEGF levels in 11 patients with Kawasaki disease in acute phase(patient group)and 11 normal children(control group) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) method. We investigated the relationship between sVEGF levels and the lumen diameters of coronary artery and other potential CAL risk factors; duration of fever, hemoglobin, WBC counts, platelet counts, ESR, CRP and LDH levels.
RESULTS
SVEGF levels of patients in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease(mean 847.9+/-495.7 pg/mL) were significantly higher than that of normal controls(mean 279.9+/-150.6 pg/mL; P<0.05). SVEGF levels showed significant positive correlation with the lumen diameters of the coronary artery(P<0.05, rs=0.75) in the patient group. There was no significant correlation between sVEGF levels and duration of fever or other laboratory measurements.
CONCLUSION
Our results support the notion that sVEGF level may be considered as a predictive indicator for the occurrence of coronary artery lesions in Kawasaki disease.

Keyword

Kawasaki disease; Coronary artery lesion; VEGF

MeSH Terms

Capillary Permeability
Coronary Vessels*
Fever
Humans
Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome*
Platelet Count
Risk Factors
Systemic Vasculitis
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A