CXCL10/IP-10 is a biomarker and mediator for Kawasaki disease featured on Global Medical DiscoveryKawasaki disease (KD) is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in young children. To date, diagnosing Kawasaki disease is still difficult because of its varied clinical manifestations and lack of specific laboratory tests. Here we found that the IP-10 levels had extremely high area under the curve values through receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis from discovery and replication studies, which suggested that IP-10 can be used as a biomarker for differential diagnosis of Kawasaki disease, thus allowing Kawasaki disease patients to receive timely treatment. Moreover, IP-10 levels can be used for diagnosis of Kawasaki disease in the very early stage (getting fever less than 4 days) and monitoring the efficacy of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment. Based on the blinded validation study, this invention (IP-10 as a Kawasaki disease biomarker) has been proved to have a high potential to apply in clinic because of reproducible discrimination and extremely high sensitivity and specificity. Compared to the previously reported biomarkers in the blood, IP-10 appears to be the most significant biomarker that can be used as a predictor for Kawasaki disease diagnosis. In addition, this invention also provides an important clue to develop novel targets or therapeutic avenue for KD.

A new study to to identify unique proteomic biomarkers that can be used to facilitate earlier diagnosis of Kawasaki disease has been featured on Global Medical Discovery.  

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in young children. To date, diagnosing Kawasaki disease is still difficult because of its varied clinical manifestations and lack of specific laboratory tests. Here we found that the IP-10 levels had extremely high area under the curve values through receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis from discovery and replication studies, which suggested that IP-10 can be used as a biomarker for differential diagnosis of Kawasaki disease, thus allowing Kawasaki disease patients to receive timely treatment. Moreover, IP-10 levels can be used for diagnosis of Kawasaki disease in the very early stage (getting fever less than 4 days) and monitoring the efficacy of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment. Based on the blinded validation study, this invention (IP-10 as a Kawasaki disease biomarker) has been proved to have a high potential to apply in clinic because of reproducible discrimination and extremely high sensitivity and specificity. Compared to the previously reported biomarkers in the blood, IP-10 appears to be the most significant biomarker that can be used as a predictor for Kawasaki disease diagnosis. In addition, this invention also provides an important clue to develop novel targets or therapeutic avenue for KD.

To read more about the featured paper in Global Medical Discovery

The original paper was published in Circulation Research: 

Ko TM, Kuo HC, Chang JS, Chen SP, Liu YM, Chen HW, Tsai FJ, Lee YC, ChenCH, Wu JY, Chen YT. Circ Res. 2015;116(5):876-83.