Background: The inflammatory mediators play an important role in the progression of coronary vasculitis in Kawasaki disease (KD), but effects of KD serum including inflammatory mediators on endothelial cells remain unknown. We hypothesized that serum activity to stimulate in vitro human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) tube formation might be impaired in KD.
Methods and results: Serum from patients with coronary aneurysms was less active in stimulating HUVEC tube formation than serum from patients without coronary aneurysms or febrile controls. In patients with coronary aneurysms, the reduction in the serum angiogenic activity was documented already before KD treatment (p=0.03 vs healthy controls, p=0.08 vs febrile controls) and enhanced after intravenous immune globulin plus aspirin (p<0.001 vs healthy controls, p=0.002 vs febrile controls); both drugs did not affect the assay studied. This reduction was greater in patients who later developed giant aneurysms >8 mm compared with those who developed small to moderate aneurysms (p=0.01). The reduced serum angiogenic activity was partly caused by the reduction in the serum activity of stimulating HUVEC proliferation.
Conclusions: Serum activity to stimulate HUVEC tube formation was impaired in KD patients who later developed larger coronary aneurysms, which may be associated with the severity of vascular injury.