Background: The literature regarding interleukin (IL)-10 polymorphisms and coronary artery lesions (CALs) in Kawasaki disease (KD) is limited. We investigated whether 3 IL-10 genetic polymorphisms (-1082 A/G, -819 T/C, and -592 A/C) are associated with development of CALs in KD.
Methods and results: The genotyping of IL-10 polymorphisms was conducted for 279 KD children (172 without and 107 with CALs in acute stage). Thirty-three patients had CALs in chronic stage and 74 only with transient CALs. The homozygous variant genotype CC of IL-10-819 and IL-10-592 was associated with 80% (P=0.006) and 79% (P=0.008) reduction in risk of CALs in acute stage, respectively. The C allele of IL-10-819 and IL-10-592 was associated with 34% (P=0.034) and 33% (P=0.044) reduction in risk of CALs in acute stage, respectively. Compared with ATA haplotype (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.63, P=0.029) or non-ACC haplotype (AOR 0.64, P=0.033), ACC haplotype was associated with a significantly reduced risk for CALs in acute stage, but not for CALs in chronic stage. Compared with non-ATA haplotype (AOR 1.53, P=0.034), ATA haplotype was associated with a significantly increased risk of CALs, except for CALs in the chronic stage.
Conclusions: The effects of IL-10 gene polymorphism on CALs in acute KD are important. The persistence of CALs in chronic stage depends much more on other factors such as the times of intravenous immunoglobulin treatment.