Acute respiratory distress syndrome virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, which causes global public health emergencies, has sped widely for more than 5 months and has the risk of long-term transmission. No effective treatment has been discovered to date. In the cases we report, the patient continued to deteriorate even after administration of antiviral drugs such as lopinavir/ritonavir, interferon-α, and ribavirin, as well as intravenous injection of meropenem, methylprednisolone, and immunoglobulin. So, we infused the patient with convalescent plasma (CP), and the absolute lymphocyte count increased the next day and returned to normal on the fourth day. Followed by intravenous infusion of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), bilateral infiltrates were absorbed and the pulmonary function was significantly improved. We note that the intravenous infusion of CP and MSCs for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients may have synergistic characteristics in inhibiting cytokine storm, promoting the repair of lung injury, and recovering pulmonary function. We hope to provide a reference for the research direction of COVID-19 clinical strategies.

IntroductionKawasaki disease is a kind of systemic vasculitis that mainly damages moderate and small-sized blood vessels, and is a leading cause of coronary artery lesions (CAL). Antiplatelet therapy is a routine component of Kawasaki disease treatment strategies. So it is important to evaluate the antiplatelet effect of aspirin because of the individual biological variability of antiplatelet effect of aspirin. The immature platelet fraction (IPF) has attracted particular attention as it may influence the antiplatelet effect of aspirin. This study investigated the prognostic factors for evaluating the degree of vasculitis and the effect of antiplatelet therapy in children with Kawasaki disease.Materials and methodsBlood samples were collected from 44 patients with Kawasaki disease before aspirin treatment and 7 to 10 days after treatment. The IPF counts, percentage of the IPF, and highly fluorescent IPF were detected by a Sysmex XE-5000 instrument. The levels of 11-dehydrothromboxane B2 (11-DH-TXB2), soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L), and soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin) were measured by ELISA. The correlation between the measured factors and the degree of coronary artery damage in Kawasaki disease was analyzed.ResultsWe found that 11-DH-TXB2, sP-selectin, and sCD40L levels were much more elevated in the CAL group than in the non-coronary artery lesions (NCAL) group before aspirin treatment. The concentrations of 11-DH-TXB2, sCD40L, sP-selectin, and IPF were reduced after aspirin treatment in the NCAL group but not the CAL group. This is related to the degree of coronary artery damage in Kawasaki disease patients. Additionally, 11-DH-TXB2, sCD40L, sP-selectin, and IPF were positively correlated with the degree of coronary artery damage in Kawasaki disease patients.ConclusionThe current study suggests that the presence of high plasma concentrations of 11-DH-TXB2, sCD40L, sP-selectin, and IPF can be considered a risk factor and experimental biomarker for CAL in Kawasaki disease patients.

Background Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute vasculitis disease that commonly causes acquired heart disease in children. Coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) is a major complication of KD. However, the pathogenesis of KD remains unclear. The results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) showed that two functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs699A>G and rs5050T>G) in the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene were related to cardiovascular disease susceptibility. The purpose of our study was to estimate the relationship between the two GWAS-identified AGT gene polymorphisms and the risk of CAA in Southern Chinese children with KD. Methods We genotyped the two AGT gene polymorphisms (rs699A>G and rs5050T>G) in 760 KD cases and 972 healthy controls. We used the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to estimate the degree of the associations. Results These two AGT gene polymorphisms were not associated with a risk of KD relative to the controls, but after adjusting for sex and age, the carriers of the rs5050G allele with TG/GG vs TT had an adjusted OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.01-2.41, and P = 0.044 relative to the carriers of the rs5050TT genotype. The susceptibility to CAA was more predominant in KD patients younger than 12 months old. Conclusions Our results indicate that the AGT gene polymorphism rs5050T>G may increase the risk of CAA in children with KD, especially those who are younger than 12 months. These results need to be verified by a validation study with a larger sample size.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract