Serum levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in children with Kawasaki disease

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) has replaced rheumatic fever as the main cause of acquired heart disease in Japanese, American, and Chinese children. Polymorphisms in angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) may be associated with susceptibility to KD, but the association of ACE2 with vascular endothelial injury in KD and the possibility for prognosis of vascular injury in KD by evaluating changes serum ACE2 has not yet been assessed. Thus, this study aimed to investigate angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) levels in patients with KD to further investigate the relationship between ACE2 and vascular injury in KD.Methods: Blood samples were collected from 49 children with KD before intravenous immunoglobulin treatment and 28 healthy children as a control group. Clinical data were collected from the patients and serum ACE2 levels of all participants were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results: Serum ACE2 levels were significantly higher in the KD group than in the control group. Serum ACE2 levels were negatively correlated with platelet count (Plt) levels in patients with KD.Conclusions: Serum ACE2 levels may be related to the severity of coronary artery damage in children with KD.