NU 2018-214 NU 2022-027
INVENTORS
Anne Rowley*
Stanford Shulman
Susan Baker
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Monoclonal antibodies, produced from Kawasaki disease plasmablasts, whose binding interactions provides a biomarker for disease diagnosis.
BACKGROUND
Kawasaki disease (KD) manifests as an acute febrile condition in children, exhibiting clinical features such as oral and conjunctival erythema, rash, cervical adenopathy, and edema in the extremities. Notably, KD can induce severe coronary artery aneurysms, thereby elevating the risk of myocardial infarction. The absence of a definitive diagnostic test, coupled with the resemblance of KD symptoms to other childhood inflammatory conditions, complicates the diagnosis of the disease. A deeper understanding of the causes of KD would facilite the development of diagnostic tests and therapeutics for children affected by the disease.
ABSTRACT
Northwestern researchers have cloned peripheral blood plasmablasts derived from children with Kawasaki disease 1-3 weeks after fever onset. These plasmablasts can proliferate and secrete antibodies targeted at intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in KD tissues, which is indiciative of infection by an unknown virus.. These newly discovered antibody interactions suggest potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the diagnosis and treatement of KD.
APPLICATIONS
Detection of KD intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in tissues by immunohistochemistry.
Potential future therapeutic target for Kawasaki disease.
ADVANTAGES
No current diagnostic tools for Kawasaki disease.
Synthetic antibody allows for customization.
PUBLICATION
Rowley A. et. al. (2023) Analysis of plasmablasts from children with Kawasaki Disease reveals evidence of convergent antibody response to specific protein epitope. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2023:228 jiad048
IP STATUS
US and international patent applications have been filed.
Researchers produce monoclonal antibodies from KD patient plasmablasts.