Novel autoantibody targets distinguish Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) from other febrile children, including those with Kawasaki Disease (KD)

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Presentation Time: 02:15 PM - 03:30 PM
Poster Board Number: B580
Abstract ID: 7668

Presenting Author:
Devin Decotes , Medical Student at Univ. at Buffalo Jacobs Sch. of Med. and Biomed. Sci., SUNY

Abstract:

Background:

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) is a post-infectious complication of COVID-19 in children that has similarity to Kawasaki disease (KD). In initial studies, autoantibodies to the inflammatory regulator developmental endothelial locus-1 (Del-1) were associated with KD. Follow-up studies failed to show this specificity, but did show that levels of circulating EDIL3/Del-1 autoantibodies were able to distinguish KD children that developed aneurysms from KD children that did not develop aneurysms. Due to the potential benefit such knowledge may have on diagnosis and treatment, we sought to explore if other targets may better distinguish MIS-C from KD.

Methods:  We utilized a HuProt^TM library (CDI Labs), a yeast (S. cerevisae) derived expression library consisting of 23,059 purified human proteins, to profile autoantigen targeting in pre-treatment samples from febrile children, children with KD, and children with MIS-C. Plasma sample ELISA assays using recombinant proteins were used for confirmation. 

Results: 

On the human protein array, a cell cytoskeletal structure protein was found to be significantly associated with MIS-C diagnosis. From these experiments, it was confirmed that autoantibody levels against this target can distinguish MIS-C from KD or febrile children. Further defining such autoantibody targets may offer novel and improved methods for distinguishing MIS-C from KD and other febrile illnesses.