Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) can induce Kawasaki disease-like features in programmed death-1 (PD-1) gene knockout...

Various genetic variants of inhibitory immune signals have been suspected as feasible causes of Kawasaki disease (KD). We investigated the associative role of programmed death-1 (PD-1) gene in the pathogenesis of KD by injecting bacilli Calmette Guérin (BCG) to PD-1 gene knockout (PD-1KO) mice.

In order to induce KD-like clinical manifestations in young PD-1KO mice, intradermal injection of the bacilli Calmette Guérin (BCG) was performed twice on the abdominal skin with a 4-week interval. For defining the role of BCG, heat shock protein (HSP) 65 was challenged. In addition, Staphylococcus aureus was adopted as a microorganism that does not contain HSP65 structure. One month after the second injection, heart, liver, and kidneys were removed and examined.

PD-1KO mice showed KD-like features including prolonged fever for more than 5 days, erythematous swelling on soles, tail skin desquamation, and gallbladder (GB) hydrops. Inflammatory cell aggregation and intimal proliferation in at least more than one coronary artery was found in all PD-1KO mice whereas scanty coronary lesion was found in wild type (WT) mice. When the PD-1KO mice were injected twice with HSP65, coronary arterial lesions similar to those seen after BCG injection were observed. Inflammatory reactions in other organs including hepatic arteries, renal arteries, and biliary arteries were also observed in PD-1KO mice.

Our data suggest that PD-1 gene may be one of the genetic predispositions of KD and antigens containing HSP65 structure could be a triggering factor of KD by our animal model of KD.