Treatment with the immunosuppressants cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, or rituximab after ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients have experienced a brain bleed, or intracranial hemorrhage, is linked to better survival, according to a review of previously reported cases. “In our pooled analysis, we found that initiating [immunosuppressant] treatment after [brain bleeds] … was…
People with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) affecting the kidneys who receive kidney transplants face higher long-term risks of transplant failure and death compared with those who undergo transplants for other reasons. That’s according to a study from France, which also found that the presence of ANCAs — self-reactive antibodies that…
People with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis have elevated levels of certain immune-related proteins in their blood, a new study from Sweden reports. However, different types of AAV involve different immune pathways, depending on the type of antibody involved: proteinase 3, known as PR3, or myeloperoxidase, called MPO.
Long-term treatment with Nucala (mepolizumab) is safe and effective in people with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), the rarest type of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), according to a meta-analysis of eight studies. After nearly two years of treatment, more than half of EGPA patients achieved remission, meaning they had…
Ratios of different kinds of blood cells, reflecting inflammation and immune activity, may be a cheap and efficient tool to aid in the diagnosis of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), and in predicting disease activity, a new study from China reports. “While not standalone diagnostic tools, these markers offer valuable support…
Some people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) have elevated biomarkers suggesting activation of the immune system’s complement cascade, which is known to contribute to AAV, even when they’re in disease remission, a study showed. While these biomarkers did not appear to be associated with an increased risk of future disease…
The most common neurological symptoms of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) among patients in a single center in Columbia — regardless of disease type — were headache and objective signs of damage to nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, a study showed. That said, the researchers found a vast array…
In adults with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), the amount of TWEAK protein in urine was about 50% as high when their disease was active as after six months of treatment, making it a useful biomarker for tracking disease activity, according to a new study from Sweden. The study further found…
Vertex Pharmaceuticals has signed a license agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical to develop and market povetacicept — a B-cell-targeting candidate for treating ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) and other autoimmune diseases driven by self-reactive antibodies and marked by signs or symptoms of kidney involvement — in Japan and South Korea.
Updated treatment guidelines from the British Society for Rheumatology favor rituximab over cyclophosphamide for active, relapsing ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), and set a standard maintenance treatment period of about 2-4 years after the disease has entered remission, or is determined to be well controlled. These recommendations are part of…
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