Demographic and clinical characteristics
Fifty-nine patients with newly diagnosed or relapsing GPA (n=41) or MPA
(n=18) were enrolled in this prospective study (Table 1). All patients
presented with active vasculitis with a median BVAS of 16.5. Thirty-five
patients had newly diagnosed AAV. Twenty-three of them were studied
within 4-6 weeks after initiation of immunosuppressive therapy (up to
2-3 infusions of cyclophosphamide with high dose glucocorticoids) that
was started before referral to our clinic, whereas 12 patients were not
treated with any immunosuppressive agents at the time of testing.
Twenty-four patients had relapsing AAV and continued maintenance
immunosuppressive therapy at the time of testing. Six ANCA-negative
patients had biopsy-proven localized GPA.
n 28 patients, testing was repeated in remission within 3 to 38 months
(median 16 months) after the initiation of immunosuppressive treatment
with rituximab (n=4), cyclophosphamide (n=20), methotrexate (n=3) or
mycophenolate mofetil (n=1). Thirty-six healthy volunteers (9 males and
27 females, average age 55.7±12.4 years) comprised the control group.