News

Researchers say an important clinical assessment is determining whether ANCA-associated vasculitis patients who need dialysis at disease onset, due to severe kidney damage, can become dialysis independent. A study has now found that people with AAV are more likely to achieve that independence if their kidney manifestations are…

ANCA-associated vasculitis patients who develop oral candidiasis during treatment with immunosuppressants have a significantly greater risk of severe infections compared to patients who never develop oral candidiasis, a study shows. Together with use of methylprednisolone pulse therapy and higher serum albumin levels, oral thrush appears to be a significant…

When autoimmune diseases such as ANCA-associated vasculitis are found at the same time as cancer, properly diagnosing and treating them alongside the cancer is crucial to ensuring best outcomes for the patient, a case report suggests. The study, “Simultaneous Occurrence of Sarcoidosis and Anti-neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-associated Vasculitis in a…

Oklahoma suffers more tornadoes than any other state, has the highest per-capita rate of women in U.S. prisons, ranks second in the number of teen births per 100,000 teenage girls, and has the nation’s third-highest rate of uninsured residents — with 13.9% of all Oklahomans lacking health coverage. As if…

Screening newborns for genetic diseases with treatments that can prevent crippling or deadly progression, especially for rare disorders, has a ways to go in the United States. No state today tests for all 35 disorders recommended under a federal screening panel, and even in those that come close, rare…

Levels of rheumatoid factor — an antibody against healthy tissue found in some autoimmune diseases — appear to separate eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) patients into two subtypes with different disease mechanisms, a study suggests. “Subtypes in eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis classified according to rheumatoid…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Pfizer‘s Ruxience (rituximab-pvvr), a biosimilar to Rituxan (rituximab), as a treatment for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) — the two most common subtypes of ANCA-associated vasculitis, the company announced. Pfizer also…

Although serum levels of the pro-inflammatory molecule interleukin (IL)-6 do not predict who will achieve complete remission, increases during periods of no disease activity are associated with subsequent severe relapses in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) on rituximab, according to an exploratory study. The research, “The…

The formation, composition, and structure of antimicrobial traps in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients are markedly different from those with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a study says. The findings of the study, “Neutrophil extracellular trap formation is intrinsically distinct in ANCA‐associated vasculitis and systemic lupus erythematosus,” were published…

Measuring structural features of specialized kidney cells called podocytes could predict short-term proteinuria — excess proteins in urine — in patients with ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis, according to a new study. The research, “Podocytes and Proteinuria in ANCA-Associated Glomerulonephritis: A Case-Control Study,” appeared in the journal Frontiers…