Clinical Trial: Measurement of Antibodies in Adults With a History of Kawasaki Disease

Study Status: Active, not recruiting
Recruit Status: Active, not recruiting
Study Type: Observational




Official Title: Measurement of Antibodies in Adults With a History of Kawasaki Disease

Brief Summary:

Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitic syndrome with coronary tropism. It has been reported worldwide, but it is ten times more common in Asian population. It is the second vasculitis of the child by its frequency after rheumatoid purpura. It occurs in 80% of cases between 1 and 5 years, with a maximal incidence around the age of 12 months.

KD is not well understood and the cause is yet unknown. It may be an autoimmune disorder. The problem affects the mucous membranes, lymph nodes, walls of the blood vessels, and the heart.The clinical picture of KD associate a persistent fever and an antipyretics resistance with mucocutaneous signs and bulky cervical lymphadenopathy usually unilateral.

There is currently no vaccine available against Kawasaki disease so it is extremely important to be able to recognize symptoms before they set in and become too severe.

Chagas disease (CD) is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Acute CD occurs immediately after infection, may last up to a few weeks or months. Infection may be mild or asymptomatic. There may be fever or swelling around the site of inoculation, and acute infection may result in severe inflammation of the heart muscle. The notion that the pathology of CD has an autoimmune component was initially based on the finding of circulating antibodies binding heart tissue antigens in patients chronically infected with T. cruzi.

A recent study reports a possible antigen (non-cruzi-related antibody NCRA) mimicry characterized by a serological reactivity to a well-defined T. cruzi antigen in blood samples from individuals not exposed to the parasite. The measured seroprevalence of such cross-reactivity is in favor of a highly prevalent immunogen acquired in childhood.