Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • ASCI Milestone Awards
    • Video Abstracts
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Clinical innovation and scientific progress in GLP-1 medicine (Nov 2025)
    • Pancreatic Cancer (Jul 2025)
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • ASCI Milestone Awards
  • Video Abstracts
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
Immune response to intravenous immunoglobulin in patients with Kawasaki disease and MIS-C
Yanfang P. Zhu, Isaac Shamie, Jamie C. Lee, Cameron J. Nowell, Weiqi Peng, Shiela Angulo, Linh N.N. Le, Yushan Liu, Huilai Miao, Hainan Xiong, Cathleen J. Pena, Elizabeth Moreno, Eric Griffis, Stephanie G. Labou, Alessandra Franco, Lori Broderick, Hal M. Hoffman, Chisato Shimizu, Nathan E. Lewis, John T. Kanegaye, Adriana H. Tremoulet, Jane C. Burns, Ben A. Croker, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Kawasaki Disease Research Group Consortium
Yanfang P. Zhu, Isaac Shamie, Jamie C. Lee, Cameron J. Nowell, Weiqi Peng, Shiela Angulo, Linh N.N. Le, Yushan Liu, Huilai Miao, Hainan Xiong, Cathleen J. Pena, Elizabeth Moreno, Eric Griffis, Stephanie G. Labou, Alessandra Franco, Lori Broderick, Hal M. Hoffman, Chisato Shimizu, Nathan E. Lewis, John T. Kanegaye, Adriana H. Tremoulet, Jane C. Burns, Ben A. Croker, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Kawasaki Disease Research Group Consortium
View: Text | PDF
Clinical Research and Public Health

Immune response to intravenous immunoglobulin in patients with Kawasaki disease and MIS-C

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

BACKGROUND Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare but potentially severe illness that follows exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Kawasaki disease (KD) shares several clinical features with MIS-C, which prompted the use of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), a mainstay therapy for KD. Both diseases share a robust activation of the innate immune system, including the IL-1 signaling pathway, and IL-1 blockade has been used for the treatment of both MIS-C and KD. The mechanism of action of IVIG in these 2 diseases and the cellular source of IL-1β have not been defined.METHODS The effects of IVIG on peripheral blood leukocyte populations from patients with MIS-C and KD were examined using flow cytometry and mass cytometry (CyTOF) and live-cell imaging.RESULTS Circulating neutrophils were highly activated in patients with KD and MIS-C and were a major source of IL-1β. Following IVIG treatment, activated IL-1β+ neutrophils were reduced in the circulation. In vitro, IVIG was a potent activator of neutrophil cell death via PI3K and NADPH oxidase, but independently of caspase activation.CONCLUSIONS Activated neutrophils expressing IL-1β can be targeted by IVIG, supporting its use in both KD and MIS-C to ameliorate inflammation.FUNDING Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute; NIH; American Asthma Foundation; American Heart Association; Novo Nordisk Foundation; NIGMS; American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Foundation.

Authors

Yanfang P. Zhu, Isaac Shamie, Jamie C. Lee, Cameron J. Nowell, Weiqi Peng, Shiela Angulo, Linh N.N. Le, Yushan Liu, Huilai Miao, Hainan Xiong, Cathleen J. Pena, Elizabeth Moreno, Eric Griffis, Stephanie G. Labou, Alessandra Franco, Lori Broderick, Hal M. Hoffman, Chisato Shimizu, Nathan E. Lewis, John T. Kanegaye, Adriana H. Tremoulet, Jane C. Burns, Ben A. Croker, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Kawasaki Disease Research Group Consortium

×

Figure 3

CyTOF shows neutrophils are highly activated in patients with KD or MIS-C and associated with high IL-1β expression.

Options: View larger image (or click on image) Download as PowerPoint
CyTOF shows neutrophils are highly activated in patients with KD or MIS-...
(A) viSNE map shows FLOWSOM automated clustering results of live CD45+ cells as leukocyte lineage populations from all patients prior to treatment. (B) Heatmap shows the median metal intensity of each marker in different leukocyte populations from patients with MIS-C (B, n = 9), KD (C, n = 2), and FCs (D, n = 11) obtained before treatment. (E) Total cell numbers of leukocyte populations prior to treatment from patients with KD (n = 2), MIS-C (n = 9), or from FCs (n = 11). Values determined from CyTOF data. P values were determined by 1-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple-comparison tests with a single pooled variance. Lines on scatter dot plots indicate median with IQR. tSNE, t distributed stochastic neighbor embedding; viSNE, visualization of t distributed stochastic neighbor embedding.

Copyright © 2026 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts