Immunoglobulin allotypic markers in Kawasaki disease

Increased Frequency of Alleles Associated with Elevated Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Levels in Children with Kawasaki Disease

“…The specific sites within these loci that are more common in children with KD have yet to be determined. Certain Ig allotypic markers were overrepresented among white but not Japanese KD patients (13). Taken together, no clear genetic influence on disease susceptibility emerges from these data.…”

“…The high incidence of KD in Japan and among Americans of Japanese descent suggests that these groups may be genetically predisposed to this disease (2,6). Linkage of different genetic markers (class I and class II MHC antigens, Ig allotypes) with KD has been sought, but only weak associations have been found (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13).…”

Tendency toward atopy in Kawasaki disease

“…Previous epidemiologic studies support the hypothesis of an increased susceptibility to KD in individuals of east Asian ethnicity and their siblings [11][12]. Some studies have linked a predisposition to KD to HLA, whereas other studies dispute such a link [8,10,13]. A recent study of differing Japanese populations supports the hypothesis that some unidentified infectious agents trigger the genetically-influenced immune response via immunoglobulin allotypic markers that are inherited as codominant autosomal alleles, which cause a susceptibility to KD [13].…”

“…Epidemiological studies have shown the incidence of KD to be higher among Japanese than among non-Japanese populations [3,[11][12][13]. Siblings of children with KD have a significantly greater risk of developing KD than do children of the same age in the general population [5].…”

Advances in Kawasaki disease

“…The paucity of evidence of person-to-person transmission of KD is compatible with this hypothesis, since most individuals would develop asymptomatic infection and only a restricted number would develop clinical illness. In view of the marked predisposition of Asian children to develop KD, genetic factors are clearly involved [50] and potentially influence the ability of the infectious etiologic agent(s) to cause disease. The specific genetic factors responsible for increased susceptibility to KD remain unknown but are currently under study [8].…”