Serum levels of PDGF-CC as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of Kawasaki disease

Background Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology that predominantly affects children, and no specific diagnostic biomarkers for KD are available. Platelet-derived growth factor CC (PDGF-CC) is a peptide with angiogenic properties that has been amply demonstrated to play a critical role in the cardiovascular system. This study aimed to investigate the serum expression of PDGF-CC in children with KD and to evaluate the ability of PDGF-CC to diagnose KD. Methods A total of 96 subjects, including 59 KD patients, 17 febrile controls (FC), and 20 healthy controls (HC), were enrolled. Serum levels of PDGF-CC were measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The associations between PDGF-CC and clinical laboratory parameters were investigated by correlation analysis. The diagnostic performance was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results Serum PDGF-CC levels in the KD group were significantly higher than in the FC and HC groups. Serum PDGF-CC levels in the KD group were positively correlated with white blood cell counts, percentage of neutrophils, IL-2, IL-12p70, TNF-α, and IL-1β levels, and negatively correlated with the percentage of lymphocytes. In the analysis of ROC curves, the area under the curve was 0.796 (95% confidence interval 0.688–0.880; P < 0.0001) for PDGF-CC and increased to 0.900 (95% confidence interval 0.808–0.957; P < 0.0001) in combination with white blood cell counts and C-reactive protein. Conclusions PDGF-CC is a potential biomarker for KD diagnosis, and the combination with white blood cell counts and C-reactive protein can further improve diagnostic performance.