Lack of Association of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Polymorphisms with Kawasaki Disease in Taiwanese Children

INTRODUCTION: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute febrile vasculitis of unknown etiology that mainly occurs in infants and children. Clinical and histopathologic findings suggest that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is involved in the coronary artery lesions (CALs) development in KD. This study hypothesized that specific VEGF gene polymorphisms and their haplotypes are associated with KD susceptibility and CAL development in Taiwanese children. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The VEGF -2578 A/C, -634 G/C, and +936 C/T single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 156 children with KD and 672 ethnically matched healthy controls using the Pre-Developed TaqMan Allelic Discrimination Assay. RESULTS: No significant differences in genotype, allele, carrier, and haplotype frequencies of the three SNPs were found between healthy controls and children with KD or between patients with and without CAL. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that VEGF -2578 A/C, -634 G/C, and +936 C/T SNPs do not confer increased susceptibility to KD or to CAL development.