COVID-19, MIS-C and Kawasaki disease share same immune response (They also share benefits from available TNFα and IL1β inhibitors)

Medical Xpress / University of California - San Diego / Nature Communications ^ | May 16, 2022 | Jane C. Burns, MD et al

[ConservativeMind]

The emergence of COVID-19 had doctors racing to define and treat the new disease, but they soon discovered it was not the only novel illness caused by SARS-CoV-2. A subset of children infected by the virus also experienced abdominal pain, headaches, rashes and vomiting. This new set of symptoms was labeled multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and had many of its pediatric patients requiring intensive care.

As MIS-C rates rose, physicians began to note its similarities to a pre-pandemic illness, Kawasaki disease (KD), which has puzzled pediatricians for more than 50 years. MIS-C and KD share many symptoms, including fever, rash and bloodshot eyes, though KD can also lead to coronary artery aneurysms and heart attack. Unlike MIS-C, which is associated with a specific virus, KD may be triggered by a variety of infectious and environmental stimuli.

The study reveals that MIS-C and KD are on the same immune response continuum as COVID-19, with MIS-C being a more severe version of the response than KD.

…The team then looked at a separate set of 13 genes used to identify KD, and found that a computer program trained to look for this genetic signature could not tell the KD and MIS-C samples apart.

"We were not expecting that," said Pradipta Ghosh, MD,m. "We analyzed MIS-C and KD through the lens of two distinct gene signatures, and both experiments told us these diseases are closely related."

Ghosh said the two gene signatures likely represent different parts of the same broader immune response.

While the study provides a new unifying framework for these diseases, it also identifies a few subtle differences.

Authors noted that therapeutics targeting some of these cytokines, including TNFα and IL1β, have already been approved by the U.S. FDA and are being tested as novel treatments for MIS-C.

[ConservativeMind]

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[nicolezmomma]

Thanks for posting this. 27 years ago my daughter had KD. The week before she was diagnosed, my father was visiting. He had a nasty cold which sent him to the ER while he was here. He had just returned from a month long visit to China. My husband and I always thought there was some relationship with her KD and whatever he picked up in China.

[nicolezmomma]

She also has never had Covid as far as we know.