Abstract
Anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) were antibodies targeting the antigens expressed on the endothelial cell surface. It has been reported that AECA were detected frequently in patients with vasculitis and were associated with disease activity and vasculitis symptoms. Consequently, AECA are thought to be involved in pathophysiology of vasculitis, including Kawasaki disease (KD) ; however, the role of AECA is not clear yet. One of the causes is that target proteins of AECA have been poorly identified. Therefore, we try to detect new target proteins of AECA in patients with vasculitis using proteomics. We have identified 63 proteins out of about 150 endothelial cell-specific candidate target proteins of AECA in patients with vasculitis so far. One of the identified proteins was peroxiredoxin2 (Prx2), an antioxidant enzyme. Our research suggests that the anti-Prx2 antibodies are detected frequently in patients with vasculitis and may have pathogenic roles in vasculitis via inflammatory cytokines/chemokines production and inhibition of anti-oxidative activity of Prx2. In this paper, we overview our study of the autoantigens detected by AECA in patients with vasculitis, and will provide some data on clinical significance of autoantibodies to Prx2, a target protein of AECA, in patients with KD.
