News

Treatment with rituximab has a similar efficacy to cyclophosphamide — both of them standard immunosuppressive therapies — in reducing short-time mortality in adults with life-threatening ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), a study in Japan found. Moreover, rituximab was associated with a significantly lower risk of fungal infections relative to cyclophosphamide. However,…

A treatment regimen that combines low-dose glucocorticoids and rituximab is just as effective at controlling ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) as a standard regimen of high-dose glucocorticoids and rituximab, according to two-year data from a clinical trial. The long-term findings indicate that, while the efficacy is comparable, the risk of serious…

Lower-than-normal counts of lymphocytes, a type of immune cell, are linked to a higher risk of severe infection in older adults with microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), the most common type of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), according to a new Japanese study. In fact, the study found that “56 severe infectious…

The ANCA Renal Risk Score, known as the ARRS, was found to be better than standard methods at predicting the likelihood of kidney failure in children with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) who have kidney inflammation, a study in China showed. “Our findings suggest that ARRS is an independent risk factor…

People with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) may present different lung involvement patterns depending on the type of disease and self-reactive antibodies driving the disease, according to a small study. Given that “the type of pulmonary involvement in AAV is important to predict prognosis and mortality as well as for treatment…

The ANCA Renal Risk Score (ARRS) — based on kidney biopsy and lab results — could accurately predict kidney failure in a large group of Scottish people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), a study shows. The test better discriminates the risk of kidney failure in AAV and may offer clinicians…

A low dose of intravenous or into-the-vein methylprednisolone, a corticosteroid, is as safe and effective as a high dose at preserving kidney function and extending survival in people with severe ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), a U.K. study found. Given that corticosteroids, a standard AAV treatment, are associated with significant…

A protein fragment called Ba that’s produced when the alternative complement pathway is activated is found at high levels in the urine of people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) during a kidney flare, a small study suggests. This means it may serve as a biomarker for predicting and monitoring kidney-related…

AstraZeneca’s Fasenra (benralizumab) — approved for a rare type of asthma — does no worse than Nucala (mepolizumab) at keeping eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) in remission. These are the first findings of the head-to-head Phase 3 MANDARA clinical trial (NCT04157348) that showed the study met its…

Researchers in Korea have developed a new system to classify ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) into clusters, and provided an algorithm that can be used for such classification in future clinical studies. “This simple algorithm can incorporate any patient with atypical or nonspecific symptoms and can be easily modified to identify…