HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Rome, Italy or Virtually from your home or work.

3rd Edition of International Heart Congress

June 05-07,2025 | Hybrid Event

June 05 -07, 2025 | Rome, Italy
Heart Congress 2023

Impact of fcar methylation on susceptibility and coronary artery lesions in Kawasaki disease

Ho Chang Kuo, Speaker at Heart Conference
Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan
Title : Impact of fcar methylation on susceptibility and coronary artery lesions in Kawasaki disease

Abstract:

Immunoglobulin (Ig) A is a first-line antibody of mucosal defense and a significant prognostic factor ofcoronary artery lesions (CAL) in Kawasaki disease (KD). We aimed to determine whether DNA methylation ofthe FCAR genes was associated with KD.

Methods

Pre- and post- intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) blood samples were collected from 73 KD subjects in thiscase-control study. The DNA methylation levels in the FCAR promoter region were evaluated usingpyrosequencing. Blood samples from 61 controls were also analyzed. FCAR mRNA levels were then analyzedusing a real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Results:

Two CpG sites in the FCAR gene demonstrated a significant elevation in patients without CAL compared tofebrile controls but were not elevated in patients with CAL after therapy. The methylation levels were lower inKD patients with CAL than in non-febrile controls six months after IVIG treatment. We found that FCAR wasmore highly expressed at the mRNA levels in the pre-IVIG KD group than in the post-IVIG groups. FCAR mRNAlevels during inactive disease were significantly lower in patients without CAL compared to those beforetreatment, but not in those with CAL by paired t-test. DNA methylation levels at the FCAR negatively correlatedwith mRNA in the leukocytes.

Conclusions/Learning Points:

This study is the first to identify FCAR methylation and that its expression levels suggest their involvement inboth the development of KD and CAL. Our results revealed that IVIG regulated both the FCAR mRNA andmethylation effectively in the KD patients without CAL. Other methylation or FCAR-modulating agents wouldbe considered for patients with CAL whose FCAR methylation did not respond well to IVIG.

Audience Take Away

  • coronary artery lesions
  • FCAR expression
  • methylation expression

Biography:

I, Ho-Chang Kuo (birth year 1973), graduated from National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan with a M.D. degree in 1999 and PhD degree from Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science at Chang Gung University, Taiwan in 2011. I worked as an attending pediatrician, physician scientist and Professor at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Taiwan. My research and clinical expert field are Kawasaki disease and allergic diseases. Now, I am the Director of “Kawasaki Disease Center” in Taiwan. I published more than 250 peer-reviewed SCI journal papers including 2 Nature Genetics (2011 and 2012), 1 Circulation Research (2015), 2 The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2016), 1 Arthritis and Rheumatology (2015), 2 Allergy and a total of 150 Kawasaki disease related SCI papers. I also served as associated editor for Frontier in Immunology, Frontiers in Pediatrics, Children, BMC Pediatrics, Medicine and International Journal of Rheumatic diseases as well as Guest Editor of IJMS. I am ranked as "World's Top 2% Scientists 2020 and 2021" (Stanford University published

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