Winter Rise in Renal AAV Cases, Possibly Due to Infections, Reported in Study

ANCA Vasculitis Treatment Research Advancing, Mayo Researchers Say

While the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis has taken strides away from highly toxic immunosuppressants to include an array of approaches based on biological drugs, there is plenty of room for treatment improvement. Research at the Mayo Clinic is focusing on approaches to prevent relapses of inflammatory disease activity. In a…

Tailored Rituxan Treatment Offers No Added Benefit in Relapse Rates to AAV Patients, Phase 3 Trial Finds

Tailoring infusions of Rituxan (rituximab) according to ANCA status and/or levels of CD19-positive lymphocytes has no significant impact on the number of relapses experienced by ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients compared to those given systematic infusions, according to a Phase 3 trial. These findings were announced at the recent American…

Researchers Find Gene Mutation That Makes Japanese More Susceptible to AAV

A mutation of the ETS1 gene increases the risk of Japanese developing an inflamed blood vessel condition known as granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a study shows. Granulomatosis with polyangiitis is one of three versions of ANCA-associated vasculitis. The ETS1 mutation, which leads to lower levels of the ETS1 protein, is common in people with…

Rituxan Combo Returns ANCA-associated Vasculitis Patients to Remission, Phase 3 Trial Shows

Combining Genentech’s Rituxan (rituximab) with glucocorticoids is an effective way for people with a flare-up of ANCA-associated vasculitis to return to remission, a Phase 3 clinical trial indicates. The RITAZAREM trial dealt with relapses of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis, whose shorter name is ANCA-associated vasculitis, or AAV. Genentech presented the…

Patients with AAV Caused by Thyroid Medicine Have Better Remission Rates After Treatment Stopped

The thyroid medication propylthiouracil (PTU) can sometimes cause antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV), but a new study shows the condition has a milder course and excellent remission rates after ending PTU treatment. The study, titled “Clinical characteristics and outcomes of propylthiouracil-induced antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis…