Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Dec;86(12):2146-53.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.23950. Epub 2014 Apr 24.

Possible involvement of infection with human coronavirus 229E, but not NL63, in Kawasaki disease

Kazuya Shirato  1 , Yoshio Imada, Miyuki Kawase, Keiko Nakagaki, Shutoku Matsuyama, Fumihiro Taguchi
Affiliations

Possible involvement of infection with human coronavirus 229E, but not NL63, in Kawasaki disease

Kazuya Shirato et al. J Med Virol. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Although human coronavirus (HCoV)-NL63 was once considered a possible causative agent of Kawasaki disease based on RT-PCR analyses, subsequent studies could not confirm the result. In this study, this possibility was explored using serological tests. To evaluate the role of HCoV infection in patients with Kawasaki disease, immunofluorescence assays and virus neutralizing tests were performed. Paired serum samples were obtained from patients with Kawasaki disease who had not been treated with γ-globulin. HCoV-NL63 and two antigenically different isolates of HCoV-229E (ATCC-VR740 and a new isolate, Sendai-H) were examined as controls. Immunofluorescence assays detected no difference in HCoV-NL63 antibody positivity between the patients with Kawasaki disease and controls, whereas the rate of HCoV-229E antibody positivity was higher in the patients with Kawasaki disease than that in controls. The neutralizing tests revealed no difference in seropositivity between the acute and recovery phases of patients with Kawasaki disease for the two HCoV-229Es. However, the Kawasaki disease specimens obtained from patients in recovery phase displayed significantly higher positivity for Sendai-H, but not for ATCC-VR740, as compared to the controls. The serological test supported no involvement of HCoV-NL63 but suggested the possible involvement of HCoV-229E in the development of Kawasaki disease.

Keywords: Kawasaki disease; human coronavirus 229E; human coronavirus NL63; neutralizing test.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunofluorescence assays of the Kawasaki disease specimens using cells infected with HCoV‐NL63 or HCoV‐229E (VR‐740). (a) Positive and negative controls for HCoV‐NL‐63 (upper panels) and HCoV‐229E (lower panels). (b) A total of 15 paired serum samples obtained from Kawasaki disease patients and two groups of control sera (23 and 29 specimens) were used for the IFs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Neutralizing tests for the control specimens.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Neutralizing tests for the Kawasaki disease specimens.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anderson DG, Warner G, Barlow E. 1995. Kawasaki disease associated with streptococcal infection within a family. J Paediatr Child Health 31:355–357. - PubMed
    1. Belay ED, Erdman DD, Anderson LJ, Peret TC, Schrag SJ, Fields BS, Burns JC, Schonberger LB. 2005. Kawasaki disease and human coronavirus. J Infect Dis 192:352–353; author reply 353. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Burns JC, Cayan DR, Tong G, Bainto EV, Turner CL, Shike H, Kawasaki T, Nakamura Y, Yashiro M, Yanagawa H. 2005. Seasonality and temporal clustering of Kawasaki syndrome. Epidemiology 16:220–225. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Catalano‐Pons C, Giraud C, Rozenberg F, Meritet JF, Lebon P, Gendrel D. 2007. Detection of human bocavirus in children with Kawasaki disease. Clin Microbiol Infect 13:1220–1222. - PubMed
    1. Chang LY, Chiang BL, Kao CL, Wu MH, Chen PJ, Berkhout B, Yang HC, Huang LM. 2006. Lack of association between infection with a novel human coronavirus (HCoV), HCoV‐NH, and Kawasaki disease in Taiwan. J Infect Dis 193:283–286. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances