Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore.
School of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, D02 YN77 Dublin, Ireland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Jul 24;25(15):8062. doi: 10.3390/ijms25158062.
Kawasaki disease (KD) is a febrile illness characterised by systemic inflammation of small- and medium-sized blood vessels, which commonly occurs in young children. Although self-limiting, there is a risk of developing coronary artery lesions as the disease progresses, with delay in diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, the diagnosis of KD continues to remain a clinical dilemma. Thus, this article not only summarises the key research gaps associated with KD, but also evaluates the possibility of using circulating endothelial injury biomarkers, such as circulating endothelial cells, endothelial microparticles and vascular endothelial cell-free DNA, as diagnostic and prognostic tools for KD: a "liquid biopsy" approach. The challenges of translating liquid biopsies to use in KD and the opportunities for improvement in its diagnosis and management that such translation may provide are discussed. The use of endothelial damage markers, which are easily obtained via blood collection, as diagnostic tools is promising, and we hope this will be translated to clinical applications in the near future.
川崎病（KD）是一种以小、中血管全身性炎症为特征的发热性疾病，常见于幼儿。虽然川崎病具有自限性，但随着疾病的进展，仍有发生冠状动脉病变的风险，如果诊断和治疗不及时，这种风险会更高。不幸的是，川崎病的诊断仍然是一个临床难题。因此，本文不仅总结了与川崎病相关的关键研究空白，还评估了循环内皮损伤生物标志物（如循环内皮细胞、内皮微颗粒和血管内皮细胞游离 DNA）作为川崎病诊断和预后工具的可能性：一种“液体活检”方法。本文讨论了将液体活检转化为川崎病应用的挑战，以及这种转化可能为川崎病的诊断和治疗带来的改进机会。使用通过血液采集即可轻易获得的内皮损伤标志物作为诊断工具具有广阔的前景，我们希望这将在不久的将来转化为临床应用。
