Lack of an association between E-selectin gene polymorphisms and risk of Kawasaki disease

Background: Coronary artery lesions (CAL) are a serious complication of Kawasaki disease (KD). The increased serum E‐selectin level during the acute phase of KD and the association of E‐selectin gene (SELE) polymorphisms with the prevalence of coronary artery disease in adults suggest a possible association between SELE polymorphisms and the development of CAL in KD patients. Methods: The subjects consisted of 177 KD patients, including 59 with and 118 without CAL, and 305 healthy controls. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of SELE, 98G>T (rs1805193) and Ser128Arg (rs5361), were genotyped by direct sequencing and the high‐resolution melting curve method, respectively. The allele distributions were assessed using the chi‐squared test. Results: There were no significant differences in the T allele frequency at 98G>T between KD patients and controls (1.4% vs 1.0%, P= 0.55) or between KD patients with and without CAL (1.7% vs 1.3%, P= 0.77). Similarly, there were no differences in the distribution of the C allele (128Arg) at Ser128Arg between KD patients and controls (4.5% vs 3.4%, P= 0.40) or between KD patients with and without CAL (4.2% vs 4.7%, P= 0.86). Conclusion: Although no association was detected between these SELE polymorphisms and the prevalence of KD or the development of CAL, this may have been due to the study limitations, including a low frequency of the minor alleles and a small sample size. A larger‐scale association study is needed in order for a definitive conclusion to be made as to whether these SNP are associated with susceptibility to KD or not.