News

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…

In rare cases, people with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis may also have symptoms of a chronic liver disease called primary biliary cirrhosis, a case report shows. To date, only six other cases of these overlapping conditions have been reported in the literature, so researchers have not been able to…

Denosumab, an approved treatment for osteoporosis, may sometimes trigger antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis with cytoplasmic ANCAs, a case study reports. While this treatment has been linked with vasculitis, this is the first report of a denosumab-derived cytoplasmic-ANCA vasculitis, the researchers say. The case study, “c-ANCA vasculitis…

Madeline Collin, a 24-year-old activist with Gaucher disease, worries that patients like her will suffer deeply if Britain leaves the European Union (EU), as scheduled, at the end of this month. Collin is an expert on the subject. For her University of Bath dissertation, she analyzed Brexit’s long-term…

Platelet-derived microparticles (PMPs) — small particles produced and released by platelets in the blood — may worsen inflammation in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis, according to a recent study. The findings of the study, “Platelets release proinflammatory microparticles in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis,” were published in Rheumatology.

With each new advance in medicine comes ethical dilemmas, from fertility treatments and newborn screening, to vaccinations, gene therapies and euthanasia. But rare diseases and the expensive therapies needed to treat them — particularly in an age of scarce economic resources — almost always entail “tragic choices,” warned Avraham Steinberg,…

Dividing ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) into subgroups defined by type of antibodies does not provide additional value for clinical prognosis, according to recent research. The study, “Clinical impact of subgrouping ANCA-associated vasculitis according to antibody specificity beyond the clinicopathological classification,” appeared in the journal Rheumatology. Different…

Among ANCA-associated vasculitis patients in remission — particularly those with manifestations in their kidneys — the reappearance of MPO-ANCA antibodies may be a sign of disease relapse, a study suggests. The study, “Association Between Reappearance of Myeloperoxidase-Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody and Relapse in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis,” was…

A piece of an antibody targeting a protein involved in cholesterol transport and metabolism might be an effective treatment for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) vasculitis, a study suggests. The study, “Efficacy of a recombinant single-chain fragment variable region, VasSF, as a new drug for vasculitis,” was published in …

Rare diseases affect about 30 million Americans — roughly the same number as those with type 2 diabetes. Yet only 5 percent of the estimated 7,000 rare diseases known to science have cures or treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Raising awareness of those illnesses and highlighting…