News

In patients with systemic vasculitis like ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), glucocorticoid use and respiratory disease are linked with severe COVID-19 outcomes, a recent study reports. “Together with reports of other cohorts exposed to immunosuppressant medication, these data could inform future public health guidance for individuals…

The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) has established alternative consensus treatment plans for children and adolescents with severe ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). These plans, which compare two therapies for induction and maintenance of remission in pediatric…

As anyone affected by a rare disease knows, treating the illness while trying to go about everyday life is an expensive undertaking.  But exactly how expensive — in terms of direct and indirect costs across rare disease populations — might still come as a surprise: almost…

People with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) who receive mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as a remission induction therapy have similar remission rates as those given cyclophosphamide (CYC), an analysis of eight published studies has found.  The study, “The Role of Mycophenolate…

The disease-causing autoantibodies are sometimes present long before the onset of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) symptoms, with distinct disease features depending on their antibody type, a recent study finds. Overall, the study presents “evidence of an initiation of the autoimmune process in…

Levels of the chitinase-3-like 1 (YKL-40) protein in the blood may serve as a helpful biomarker of disease activity in people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), findings from a new study suggest. Yet, additional studies are needed to validate the results and elucidate the role of YKL-40 in AAV, the…

Research into the potential interplay between different immune system components and coagulation in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), COVID-19 and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has won a grant from the Academic Alliance Fund (AAF). The grant was awarded to Johan van der Vlag, PhD, and Cansu Yanginlar, MSc, at the…

People with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) who receive rituximab treatment may have a higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes and should therefore be considered vaccination priorities, a recent case report suggests. The time since a patient’s last rituximab infusion and their current immunoglobulin level appear to be the most important…

Many diseases have their own awareness color — breast cancer is pink, muscular dystrophy is green, and AIDS is red, for example — but what’s the significance of pink, green, blue, and purple lights side-by-side? These are the colors most often used to represent Rare Disease Day. This…

Kidney transplant recipients, whose kidney failure stemmed from ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), have less risk of disease recurrence but a higher risk of dying with a functioning transplant,  a recent study suggests. These patients also had a higher risk of dying from complications due to immunosuppression and infection. The study,…