Andrea Salgado

Lymph-Node-First Presentation of Kawasaki Disease Compared with Bacterial Cervical Adenitis and Typical Kawasaki Disease

OBJECTIVE To identify characteristics differentiating the node-first presentation of Kawasaki disease (NFKD) from bacterial cervical lymphadenitis (BCL) and typical Kawasaki disease (KD). STUDY DESIGN From our prospectively collected database, we compared clinical, laboratory, and imaging characteristics of NFKD and BCL cohorts and performed multivariable logistic regression to identify variables that distinguish NFKD from BCL. We then compared outcomes of patients with NFKD and patients with typical KD treated during the same period. RESULTS Over 7 years, 57 patients were hospitalized for NFKD, 78 for BCL, and 287 for typical KD. Patients with NFKD were older and had more medical encounters and longer duration of illness before the correct diagnosis was made than did patients with BCL. Of patients with NFKD, 33% had an admission diagnosis of bacterial adenitis or abscess. Compared with patients with BCL, patients with NFKD had lower leukocyte (white blood cell), hemoglobin, and platelet counts and higher absolute band counts (ABCs), C-reactive protein (CRP), alanine transaminase and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase levels, and erythrocyte sedimentation rates. In the multivariable analysis, smaller nodes, lower white blood cell count, and higher ABC and CRP were independently associated with NFKD. Patients with NFKD had multiple enlarged solid nodes and comparable rates of retropharyngeal edema. Compared with patients with typical KD, patients with NFKD were older, had more severe inflammation, and had similar rates of coronary artery abnormalities and resistance to intravenous immune globulin. CONCLUSIONS High ABC and CRP values and multiple enlarged solid nodes in febrile patients with cervical adenopathy should prompt consideration of NFKD to prevent delayed diagnosis of KD. Retropharyngeal edema on radiography should not dissuade from the diagnosis of NFKD.

Characterization of the Population Pharmacokinetics of Ampicillin in Neonates Using an Opportunistic Study Design

ABSTRACT Although ampicillin is the most commonly used drug in neonates, developmental pharmacokinetic (PK) data to guide dosing are lacking. Ampicillin is primarily renally eliminated, and developmental changes are expected to influence PK. We conducted an open-label, multicenter, opportunistic, prospective PK study of ampicillin in neonates stratified by gestational age (GA) (≤34 or >34 weeks) and postnatal age (PNA) (≤7 or >7 days). Drug concentrations were measured by tandem mass spectrometry. PK data were analyzed using population nonlinear mixed-effects modeling in NONMEM 7.2. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to determine the probability of target attainment for the time in which the total steady-state ampicillin concentrations remained above the MIC (T>MIC) for 50%, 75%, and 100% of the dosing interval. A total of 142 PK samples from 73 neonates were analyzed (median [range] GA, 36 [24 to 41] weeks; PNA, 5 [0 to 25] days). The median ampicillin dose was 200 (100 to 350) mg/kg/day. Postmenstrual age and serum creatinine were covariates for ampicillin clearance (CL). A simplified dosing regimen of 50 mg/kg every 12 h for GA of ≤34 weeks and PNA of ≤7 days, 75 mg/kg every 12 h for GA of ≤34 weeks and PNA of ≥8 and ≤28 days, and 50 mg/kg every 8 h for GA of >34 weeks and PNA of ≤28 days achieved the prespecified surrogate efficacy target in 90% of simulated subjects. Ampicillin CL was associated with neonatal development. A simplified dosing regimen stratified by GA and PNA achieves the desired surrogate therapeutic target in the vast majority of neonates.

High Risk of Coronary Artery Aneurysms in Infants Younger than 6 Months of Age with Kawasaki Disease

Objectives To characterize the clinical presentation and outcome in infants <6 months of age with Kawasaki disease (KD) and to describe the use of newer anti‐inflammatory therapies in this young population. Study design We evaluated 88 infants <6 months old and 632 ≥6 months old treated for KD. We compared differences in laboratory data, response to treatment, and coronary artery outcomes between the 2 cohorts. Fisher exact test was used to analyze categorical variables, whereas the Wilcoxon rank sum test was used for continuous variables. Results The majority of children in both cohorts were diagnosed and treated within the first 10 days of illness (median illness day 6 in both cohorts). For patients treated within the first 10 days after fever onset, a larger proportion of infants <6 months old had a dilated or aneurysmal coronary artery on the initial echocardiogram compared with those ≥6 months old (43.4% vs 19.5%). Furthermore, 18.6% of infants <6 months old who had a normal echocardiogram at diagnosis, developed a dilated or aneurysmal coronary artery on a subsequent echocardiogram within 8 weeks of diagnosis. Twenty‐eight infants <6 months old received a single dose of infliximab without any untoward effects. Conclusions Despite treatment in the first 10 days, infants <6 months old with acute KD are more likely to develop coronary artery abnormalities. Thus, the development of adjunctive therapies to reduce coronary artery damage should target this population.

Galectin-3 is a marker of myocardial and vascular fibrosis in Kawasaki disease patients with giant aneurysms ☆

BACKGROUNDS Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a multifunctional matricellular protein associated with heart failure and cardiovascular events. Gal-3 is required for transforming growth factor-β pathway-mediated myofibroblast activation that is a key process in coronary artery aneurysm formation in Kawasaki Disease (KD). Autopsies from young adults late after KD onset (AKD) have demonstrated bridging fibrosis throughout the myocardium and arteries. In this study, we postulated that Gal-3 may participate in the pathogenesis of myocardial and vascular fibrosis and the remodeling of coronary artery aneurysms following acute KD. METHODS AND RESULTS We measured plasma Gal-3 levels in 63 pediatric KD (PKD) and 81 AKD subjects. AKD subjects with giant aneurysms had significantly higher Gal-3 levels compared to the other adult groups (all p<0.05). All PKD groups had significantly higher Gal-3 levels than pediatric healthy controls (HC) (all p<0.05). Histological and immunohistochemical staining was performed on tissues from 10 KD autopsies and one explanted heart. Gal-3 positive staining was detected associated with acute inflammation and in spindle-shaped cells in the myocardium and arterial wall in KD subjects with giant aneurysms. CONCLUSIONS AKD subjects with giant aneurysms and PKD subjects had significantly higher plasma Gal-3 levels than HC and Gal-3 expression was increased in the myocardium of KD subjects who died with either acute inflammation or marked myocardial fibrosis. Gal-3 may be a clinically useful biomarker that identifies a subset of KD patients at highest risk of myocardial and vascular fibrosis, and may be an attractive therapeutic target to prevent myocardial dysfunction in this subset.

Genetic variation in the SLC8A1 calcium signaling pathway is associated with susceptibility to Kawasaki disease and coronary artery abnormalities

Background—Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute pediatric vasculitis in which host genetics influence both susceptibility to KD and the formation of coronary artery aneurysms. Variants discovered by genome-wide association studies and linkage studies only partially explain the influence of genetics on KD susceptibility. Methods and Results—To search for additional functional genetic variation, we performed pathway and gene stability analysis on a genome-wide association study data set. Pathway analysis using European genome-wide association study data identified 100 significantly associated pathways (P<5×10−4). Gene stability selection identified 116 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 26 genes that were responsible for driving the pathway associations, and gene ontology analysis demonstrated enrichment for calcium transport (P=1.05×10−4). Three single nucleotide polymorphisms in solute carrier family 8, member 1 (SLC8A1), a sodium/calcium exchanger encoding NCX1, were validated in an independent Japanese genome-wide association study data set (meta-analysis P=0.0001). Patients homozygous for the A (risk) allele of rs13017968 had higher rates of coronary artery abnormalities (P=0.029). NCX1, the protein encoded by SLC8A1, was expressed in spindle-shaped and inflammatory cells in the aneurysm wall. Increased intracellular calcium mobilization was observed in B cell lines from healthy controls carrying the risk allele. Conclusions—Pathway-based association analysis followed by gene stability selection proved to be a valuable tool for identifying risk alleles in a rare disease with complex genetics. The role of SLC8A1 polymorphisms in altering calcium flux in cells that mediate coronary artery damage in KD suggests that this pathway may be a therapeutic target and supports the study of calcineurin inhibitors in acute KD.

Kawasaki Disease in Latin American Children: Past, Current, and Future Challenges

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the leading cause of acquired cardiac disease in children in developed countries and Asia. However, there is a paucity of data available from Latin America. In response to the gap in knowledge about KD in Latin America, a group of pediatric infectious disease researchers from the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California San Diego and the Sociedad Latinoamericana de Infectología Pediátrica joined efforts during the last decade to address this problem. The Red de Enfermedad de Kawasaki en América Latina (Latin American Kawasaki Disease Network) was launched in 2013 to study the epidemiology of KD among children from the major pediatric tertiary referral hospitals in Latin America. This multinational multicenter network is primarily composed of pediatric infectious diseases, cardiology, rheumatology, and immunology subspecialists and pediatricians from 20 countries, and it is one of the worlds largest networks to study the general epidemiology of KD. The first 2 prospective and retrospective multinational multicenter studies looking at the epidemiology of KD in the region were initiated in 2014. Future plans for the network include establishing collaborative research alliances and projects with other centers around the world. To date [ 1], there have been no published studies describing the overall incidence and prevalence of KD in Latin American children. The most important and recent epidemiological study addressing this issue, related to Chile, was published in 2012 [ 2]. Of these, the most recent relevant study addressed the seasonality of KD in different parts of the globe, including some Latin American and Caribbean countries [ 4]. In this document, we briefly summarize relevant available information from Latin America. Although there have been other publications from individual countries that are outside the scope of this communication, the majority of these reports are single case reports, or case series that have been published predominantly in local journals that are not indexed in PubMed and instead are in regional Spanish, Portuguese, and English databases.