REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders: Autoinflammatory Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1582638
Kawasaki disease: insights into the roles of T cells
Provisionally accepted
- Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic immune vasculitis characterized by fever and is a common cause of acquired heart disease in children. The etiology of KD remains unclear, but it is generally believed to be an amplified inflammatory cascade caused by the combined action of infection and genetic susceptibility factors. Changes in T lymphocyte subsets and their abnormal activation play an important role in the immune response to KD. This review delves into the critical role of T cells in the pathogenesis of KD, with a particular focus on how the expansion of CD8+ T cells and the imbalance between Th17 and Tregs contribute to IVIG resistance and persistent inflammation. Our analysis suggests that interventions targeting T cell function could potentially improve the clinical prognosis for KD patients. This provides specific directions for future therapeutic strategies, including the use of novel immunomodulatory approaches such as cyclosporine and IL-17/IL-23 inhibitors, aimed at providing new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of KD.
Keywords: kawasaki disease, Systemic immune, T cells, IVIg, Treg - regulatory T cell
Received: 24 Feb 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 wang, Liu, Huang, Li, Sun and Haitao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lv Haitao, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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