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Kawasaki disease (KD) is a form of acute systemic vasculitis syndrome that predominantly occurs in children under the age of 5 years. Its etiology has been postulated due to not only genetic factors but also the presence of foreign antigens or infectious agents. To evaluate possible associations between Kawasaki disease (KD) and COVID-19, we investigated humoral responses of KD patients against S-protein variants with SARS-CoV-2 variant protein microarrays. In this study, plasma from a cohort of KD (N = 90) and non-KD control (non-KD) (N = 69) subjects in categories of unvaccinated–uninfected (pre-pandemic), SARS-CoV-2 infected (10–100 days after infection), and 1-dose, 2-dose, and 3-dose BNT162b2 vaccinated (10–100 days after vaccination) was collected. The principal outcomes were non-KD–KD differences for each category in terms of anti-human/anti-His for binding antibodies and neutralizing percentage for surrogate neutralizing antibodies. Binding antibodies against spikes were lower in the KD subjects with 1-dose of BNT162b2, and mean differences were significant for the P.1 S-protein (non-KD–KD, 3401; 95% CI, 289.0 to 6512; P = 0.0252), B.1.617.2 S-protein (non-KD–KD, 4652; 95% CI, 215.8 to 9087; P = 0.0351) and B.1.617.3 S-protein (non-KD–KD, 4874; 95% CI, 31.41 to 9716; P = 0.0477). Neutralizing antibodies against spikes were higher in the KD subjects with 1-dose of BNT162b2, and mean percentage differences were significant for the 1-dose BNT162b2 B.1.617.3 S-protein (non-KD–KD, −22.89%; 95% CI, −45.08 to −0.6965; P = 0.0399), B.1.1.529 S-protein (non-KD–KD, −25.96%; 95% CI, −50.53 to −1.376; P = 0.0333), BA.2.12.1 S-protein (non-KD–KD, −27.83%; 95% CI, −52.55 to −3.115; P = 0.0195), BA.4 S-protein (non-KD–KD, −28.47%; 95% CI, −53.59 to −3.342; P = 0.0184), and BA.5 S-protein (non-KD–KD, −30.42%; 95% CI, −54.98 to −5.869; P = 0.0077). In conclusion, we have found that KD patients have a comparable immunization response to healthy individuals to SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 immunization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tyrosine phosphorylation is one of the most important posttranslational modifications in bacteria, linked to regulating growth, migration, virulence, secondary metabolites, biofilm formation, and capsule production. Only two tyrosine kinases (yccC (etk) and wzc) have been identified in Escherichia coli . The investigation by similarity has not revealed any novel BY-kinases in silico so far, most probably due to their sequence and structural variability. Here we developed a reverse-phase protein array from 4126 overexpressed E. coli clones, lysed, and printed on coated glass slides. These high-density E. coli lysate arrays (ECLAs) were quality controlled by the reproducibility and immobilization of total lysate proteins and specific overexpressed proteins. ECLAs were used to interrogate the relationship between protein overexpression and tyrosine phosphorylation in the total lysate. We identified 6 protein candidates, including etk and wzc, with elevated phosphotyrosine signals in the total lysates. Among them, we identified a novel kinase nrdD with autophosphorylation and transphosphorylation activities in the lysates. Moreover, the overexpression of nrdD induced biofilm formation. Since nrdD is a novel kinase, we used E. coli proteome microarrays (purified 4,126 E. coli proteins) to perform an in vitro kinase assay and identified 33 potential substrates. Together, this study established a new ECLA platform for interrogating posttranslational modifications and identified a novel kinase that is important in biofilm formation, which will shed some light on bacteria biochemistry and new ways to impede drug resistance.