Pathophysiological and clinical point of view on Kawasaki disease and MIS-C

This article compares two important pathophysiological states, Kawasaki disease, and multi-system inflammatory syndrome, in children associated with COVID-19 (MIS-C). Both occur pre-dominantly in children, have a temporal association with an infectious agent, and are associated with immune-system alteration and systemic inflammation under certain circum-stances. The two share common pathophysiology, including enhancement of interleukin-1 neu-trophils, activation of the inflammasome, pyroptosis, or NETosis. Moreover, the clinical presentation of the diseases overlaps. However, they are indeed two separate diseases, proven by the differences in the epidemiological and etiological aspects and the pathophysiological processes involved in the development and frequency of some clinical signs. This article high-lights potentially exciting areas that have not yet been studied in detail, which could help bet -ter understand the development of these diseases.Copyright (c) 2023, Taiwan Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/).