Intravenous Immune Globulin Reduces the IgG Antiendothelial Cell Antibody Response in Kawasaki Disease

IgG class antiendothelial cell antibodies were sought by a cellular ELISA in 350 samples from 118 patients with Kawasaki disease. They were found in 62 of the patients (52%); including 12 of 18 patients with a coronary artery lesion and 34 of 67 in whom such a lesion was not detected. Their frequency was similar in patients who had received intravenous immune globulin (18 of 40) and in those who had not (43 of 78). However, the mean antibody levels rose significantly in patients who were not treated with intravenous immune globulin but no such rise occurred in treated patients whose mean and peak antibody levels remained significantly lower than those of untreated patients. These results suggest that intravenous immune globulin reduces the magnitude of the antiendothelial cell antibody response in patients with Kawasaki disease.