Author Archives: Ana Pena, PhD

Kidney transplantation is safe and effective for treating children with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) who develop serious kidney problems as a result of their disease, a long-term study in Japan suggests. The transplant successfully prevented the return of AAV-related kidney damage in seven children over a median of seven years,…

The development of a population of mutated blood cells — a phenomenon called clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential — is more frequent in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients than in healthy people, and may modify the clinical outcomes of the disease, a study reports. Some patients with such blood cell populations…

More people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), including those with kidney involvement, also have connective tissue diseases (CTD) than is generally thought, especially among female patients. But the co-existence of a CTD was unlikely to worsen kidney disease or change overall disease outcomes, a study reports. AAV patients with connective…

Healthy individuals also produce a type of self-reactive antibodies — termed IgM ANCA — present in people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), a study has found. While low, the levels in healthy people are comparable with those in AAV patients whose disease is less active. The antibodies’ role is still…

The neutrophils of patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) have altered levels of proteins involved in neutrophil clearance, which may contribute to the blood vessel inflammation and autoimmunity marking this disorder — especially in patients with kidney damage — a study has found. Harnessing these altered pathways could lead…

Eye problems are a common symptom of granulomatosis with polyangiitis, of which clinicians should be aware as it can be an initial symptom of the disease, a study reports. Most of the time these manifestations are treatable by conventional immunosuppressive…

Treatment with a common antibiotic reduces the risk of life-threatening infections in ANCA-associated vasculitis patients being given Rituxan (rituximab) for their condition, a study conducted in the U.K. and Austria reports. This finding supports the use of the antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in routine clinical practice for these patients.

A noninvasive and simple ultrasound test might be a new tool to help predict artery damage and increased risk of cardiovascular events in ANCA-associated vasculitis patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), according to researchers. Their study, “Endothelial dysfunction…

Classifying the specificity of ANCA autoantibodies may complement the currently used clinical classification system when predicting the course of disease and prognosis in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients with renal involvement, according to Spanish researchers. Indeed, ANCA specificity was seen to be better at predicting relapse than clinical classification.

Patients with ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis receiving immunosuppressive therapy are not more likely to develop cancer than the general population, a study found. However, researchers did find that the risk for blood, post-transplant, and nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSC) is higher among these patients. Findings were reported in the study,…