In Person & By Zoom

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/93916189831?pwd=1VamRSxgxgeQQvTKvRvL5hbILRRGMl.1
Meeting ID: 846 6076 7443
Passcode: 274922

Tatiana Aguilar
M.S. Candidate
Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology
John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Kawasaki Disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology affecting children under the age of five globally. As the risk of coronary artery abnormalities (CAA) and resistance to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment remain significant challenges in patients who develop KD, it is imperative to identify contributing factors. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) allows for the discovery of the biological context behind genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data. We investigated the acute, subacute, and convalescent phases of clinically characterized KD patient samples to understand the progression of KD, formation of CAA and resistance to IVIG. We employed IPA to identify the pathways and functions associated with immune cell recruitment, vascular permeability, tissue remodeling, and dysregulation of the NF-kB pathway. Our study suggests 15 biomarkers for the differential diagnosis of acute KD. We further add to the existing knowledge of the pathogenesis behind CAA formation through the immune response within this subset of patient samples and mechanisms of IVIG resistance.