HLA antigens in Kawasaki disease

Two hundred five patients with Kawasaki disease and 500 normal controls were HLA-typed, using a standard microcytotoxicity test of tissue typing. HLA-BW22 was more common in patients with Kawasaki disease than in normal controls (25.4% instead of 11.8%, corrected P less than .0005). Among subtypes of HLA-BW22 antigen, Kawasaki disease was associated with HLA-BW22J2, which was found specifically in Japanese and not in Caucasians. These facts may suggest that there is a gene controlling the susceptibility to Kawasaki disease and linked with a Japanese-specific HLA antigen.