Changes in serum levels of resistin and visfatin in pediatric patients with acute Kawasaki disease following intravenous immune globulin treatment / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine serum levels of resistin and visfatin in the patients with acute Kawasaki disease before and after intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) treatment.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 50 children with acute Kawasaki disease were treated with IVIG for 48 hours between January 2011 and January 2013. As controls, 30 healthy children and 30 children with acute infectious diseases were included. Serum levels of resistin and visfatin were measured by ELISA both before and after the treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The baseline serum levels of resistin and visfatin were significantly higher in patients with acute Kawasaki disease than in the two control groups of subjects (i.e., healthy children and patients with acute infectious diseases; P<0.05). In the 50 patients with Kawasaki disease, 38 were not responding and 12 were responding. Serum resistin levels before treatment were significantly higher in non-responders than those in responders (P<0.05). A significant decrease in serum levels of resistin after treatment was observed in IVIG responders (P<0.05). Serum visfatin levels were not significantly different between IVIG responders and non-responders (P>0.05). Additionally, serum resistin and visfatin levels were not significantly different between acute Kawasaki disease patients with and without coronary artery lesions.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Resistin and visfatin may play important roles in the development of Kawasaki disease and serum resistin may be used as a novel outcome indicator of the IVIG treatment.</p>

Incidence and relationship of human cytomegalovirus infection and human herpesvirus 6 infection in pediatric patients after hemopoietic stem cell transplantation / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the incidence of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection in pediatric patients with hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and to explore the relationship between CMV and HHV-6 infection in pediatric patients with HSCT.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Pediatric patients with HSCT in hemotology center of Beijing Children's Hospital were enrolled into this study from June 2007 to October 2009. Peripheral blood were collected every week after HSCT, and Fluorescent quantitation PCR and conventional PCR were used to detect CMV DNA load in serum and HHV-6 DNA in peripheral blood respectively. Genetic typing was conducted on HHV-6.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Fifty two pediatric patients with HSCT were enrolled into this study, and six hundreds and thirty six specimens were collected totally. CMV DNA was detected in fifty two specimens from twenty cases. The median time was 56 days after HSCT. The incidence of CMV infection was 38.5% (20/52) in all HSCT patients and 47.6% (20/42) in allogene HSCT patients. The incidence of late CMV infection was 22.2% (6/27) in allogene HSCT. Three patients died of CMV infection,and two died of CMV interstitial pneumonia. HHV-6 DNA was detected in thirty three specimens from fourteen cases. The median time was 23 days after HSCT. The incidence of HHV-6 infection was 26.9% (14/52)in all HSCT patients and 31% (13/42) in allogene HSCT patients. The genotype of HHV6 was all type B. HHV-6 DNA was positive in six of twenty cases with CMV infection. The incidence of co-infection was 30% (6/20).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There was a substantial incidence of CMV and HHV6 infection after HSCT. The relationship between earlier HHV6 infection and later CMV infection in pediatric patients with HSCT need further study.</p>