New study aims to better understand Kawasaki disease
BALTIMORE – A new study looks to define the antibody characteristics, including clonality, of plasmablasts during Kawasaki Disease (KD). Findings from the study will be presented during the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2019 Meeting, taking place on April 24 – May 1 in Baltimore.
“We still don’t know the cause of KD, the leading cause of childhood acquired heart disease in developed nations,” said Mark Hicar, MD, PhD, one of the authors of the study. “During a normal infectious immune response, special B cells called plasmablasts that are specific to the infection are found in the peripheral blood. We are characterizing these responses in a number of children with KD, have created antibodies from these plasmablasts, and are using these to identify the cause of KD.”