Taek Jin Lee

The role of a whole blood interferon-γ assay for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection in Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccinated children

The tuberculin skin test (TST) has limitations in children who are under the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) effect. Our aim was to evaluate the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-G IT) blood test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children and to compare results with those of the TST. QFT-G IT and TST data were collected from 227 children between 0 and 15 years of age, split into 4 risk groups. Forty-two children were close contacts, 29 were casual contacts, and 65 were controls. The QFT-G IT positivity rates were 19% (8/42), 6.9% (2/29), and 1.5% (1/65), with a significantly higher rate for the close contacts over the controls (P < 0.05). The high specificity of the QFT-G IT assay and the association of positive results with increasing risk of infection in our study suggest it has major benefits over the TST as a screening test for latent infection with M. tuberculosis in BCG-vaccinated children.

Immunogenicity and safety of a pentavalent human-bovine (WC3) reassortant rotavirus vaccine in healthy infants in Korea.

We evaluated the immunogenicity and safety of pentavalent human-bovine reassortant rotavirus vaccine in 178 Korean healthy infants. Seroresponse rate for serum antirotavirus IgA titers was 94.7% among 94 vaccine recipients, as compared with 13.5% among 52 placebo recipients. Seroresponse rates in serum neutralizing antibody to each human rotavirus serotype in the vaccine were significantly higher in the vaccine group than in the placebo group. This vaccine was generally well tolerated and immunogenic.

Prevalence and patterns of anti‐nuclear antibodies in Korean children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis according to ILAR criteria

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and patterns of anti‐nuclear antibodies (ANA) in different subtypes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) according to the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) criteria. Methods: One hundred and fifty‐three Korean patients (M:F 83:70) with JIA were followed between 1990 and 2006 and were tested for ANA by an indirect immunofluorescence method using HEp‐2 cells as the substrate. ANA tests were repeated in 37 patients during the course of the disease. The median age at onset was 7.5 years (range 0.8–15.9 years). Results: ANA were positive in 50 (33%) of the 153 patients at a dilution of 1:40 or higher (>1:40 in 70%, >1:80 in 2%, >1:160 in 16%, >1:320 in 2%, and >1:640 in 10%). The patterns of immunofluorescence staining were homogeneous in 50%, speckled in 38%, nucleolar in 8%, and centromere in 4%. ANA titres were decreased in 25 (68%) of the 37 patients, and the nuclear fluorescence patterns changed in 14 (38%) during follow‐up. ANA seropositivity was associated with female sex (p<0.0001), negative HLA‐B27 (p = 0.01), and a persistently elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) at follow‐up (p = 0.014). Furthermore, a high ANA titre (>1:160) was associated with a poor clinical outcome (active patients at follow‐up) (p = 0.005). Conclusions: ANA may be an important marker of disease activity in patients with JIA. ANA titres tend to decrease during disease remission but the fluorescence patterns do not appear to be related to disease activity or clinical outcome.

Increased serum levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in patients with Kawasaki disease

Objective: To determine whether serum levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) increase in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) and also correlate with other inflammatory indices. Methods: Serum samples from 10 patients with KD, 15 normal healthy subjects, and seven febrile control subjects were assayed for MIF by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: There was a significant increase in the serum levels of MIF in the acute stage of KD [113.06 (range 20.6–157.36) ng/mL] compared with those in the subacute stage [28.11 (8.57–143.48) ng/mL, p<0.01], normal controls [12.95 (8.40–18.67) ng/mL, p<0.001], and febrile controls [36.58 (21.31–59.67) ng/mL, p = 0.01]. The increase in MIF correlated with an increase in interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) (r = 0.52, p = 0.047). Conclusion: MIF may be a useful marker in the acute stage of KD and may provide important clues to the pathogenesis of this disease.