Figure 1.
Per-cohort analysis of BLK rs2736340.
Boxes indicate the odds ratio for each cohort, and horizontal lines denote the 95% confidence interval for the corresponding odds ratio. Diamonds represent summary odds ratios for the respective meta-analyses. Solid vertical line indicates an odds ratio of 1.0, and dashed vertical line denotes the odds ratio obtained from meta-analysis of all samples.
Table 1.
Association between genetic variants in the BLK region and KD in a combined analysis of Taiwanese and Korean populations.
Table 2.
Meta-analysis of association of rs2736340 with KD.
Figure 2.
B cell population in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and BLK expression in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) induced at the acute stage of KD.
(A) PBMCs were stained with anti-CD19 or anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies, and the percentage of CD19+ B cells and CD3+ T cells in samples taken from a patient at acute and convalescent stages of KD and from a healthy control were determined by multicolor flow cytometry. (B) Levels of BLK expression were determined by real-time RT-PCR, and levels in KD patients were compared to those in fever controls. Values are expressed as mean ± standard error (SE). RNA was harvested from PBLs from KD patients at different stages of disease development or from age-matched fever controls. KD1, n = 20, before IVIG treatment (within 24 h before IVIG treatment); KD2, n = 12, after IVIG treatment (3–7 days after IVIG treatment); and KD3, n = 10, convalescence stage (3 weeks after IVIG treatment). FC, n = 19, fever controls.
Table 3.
Analysis of the correlation of genotypes of rs2736340 in BLK region with expression levels in transformed B cells.
Figure 3.
Genotypes of rs2736340 are associated with BLK expression and down stream signaling of B cell receptor in B cell lines established from KD patients and in B cells purified from the acute stage of KD patients.
(A) BLK expression was detected by real-time RT-PCR, and expression from patients with T/T or T/C genotypes was compared to that from patients with C/C genotypes. Values are mean ± SE (C/C, n = 4; T/T, n = 5; and T/C, n = 5). (B) BLK expression and ERK1/2 expression and activation were detected by Western blot. BLK, antibody against BLK; ERK1/2, antibody against p44/p42 ERK1/2; p- ERK1/2, antibody against phospho-p44/p42 ERK1/2; GAPDH, antibody against GAPDH.