Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2003, 200 (3)

Short Report

Polymorphisms of Heme Oxygenase-1 and Bilirubin
UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase Genes are not
Associated with Kawasaki Disease Susceptibility

MASAYO KANAI, SAORI TANABE, MASAHIKO OKADA,¹ HIROSHI SUZUKI, TAKAO NIKI,
MICHIHIKO KATSUURA,² TOMOHARU AKIBA³ and KIYOSHI HAYASAKA¹

Department of Pediatrics, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata 990-9585,
¹Department of Pediatrics, Yonezawa Municipal Hospital, Yamagata 992-8502,
²Department of Pediatrics, Yamagata Prefectural Kahoku Hospital, Yamagata 999-3511, and
³Department of Pediatrics, Saiseikan Yamagata Municipal Hospital, Yamagata 999-8533

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis and occurs among Japanese children at a high incidence. Serum bilirubin and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression are known to play a significant role in the protection of vascular endothelial cells. Japanese have unique polymorphic distribution patterns of (TA)₇ or G71R of the bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (B-UGT) gene and of (GT)_n repeats of the HO-1 gene. We investigated the relationship of KD susceptibility with these polymorphisms. There were no significant differences in the distribution of allele frequencies and genotypes of these polymorphisms between KD patients and controls. These polymorphisms are not associated with KD susceptibility.

keywords —— Kawasaki disease; heme oxygenase-1; bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyltransferase

© 2003 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2003, 200, 155-159

Address for reprints: Dr. Kiyoshi Hayasaka, Department of Pediatrics, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata 990-9585, Japan.

e-mail: hayasaka@med.id.yamagata-u.ac.jp