Abstract
ObjectivesIntravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) resistance was a major cause of coronary artery lesions in children with Kawasaki disease (KD). However, the cause of IVIG resistance in KD remains unknown. miR-221-3p has been confirmed involved in cardiovascular diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between miR-221-3p and IVIG resistance in children with KD.Methods55 KD patients and 29 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. KD patients were divided into group of sensitive to IVIG (IVIG-response, n=42) and group of resistant to IVIG (IVIG-resistance, n=13). Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) were used to detect the levels of miR-221-3p.ResultsCompared with the HCs group, miR-221-3p were significantly increased in the KD group (p < 0.05), and the IVIG-resistance group had higher levels of miR-221-3p than those in the IVIG-response group (p < 0.05). CRP (C-reactive protein), PCT (procalcitonin), NLR (neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio) were positively correlated with miR-221-3p in KD patients. In addition, the group of IVIG resistance had a higher level of Kobayashi Score (p <0.001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that miR-221-3p had a better value for diagnosis IVIG resistance in children with KD than Kobayashi Score and the combination of both with the AUC of 0.811 (95% CI, 0.672-0.951), 0.793 (95% CI, 0.618-0.968) and 0.797 (95% CI, 0.619-0.974), respectively.ConclusionsmiR-221-3p might be involved in the pathogenesis of KD and IVIG resistance and miR-221-3p can be used as a new potential biomarker to predict of IVIG resistance in children with KD.