Biomarkers in vasculitis

Abstract

The publications reviewed here potentially may help to move the field of biomarkers in vasculitis management. However, more work toward understanding the underlying pathophysiology and effects of an intervention on the disease process are needed before true biomarkers can be realized. Further studies with appropriate control groups, using good definitions for disease states such as activity and remission are needed to guide our use of these markers correctly in the management of our patients.

Moderation analysis exploring associations between age and mucocutaneous activity in Behçet’s syndrome: A multicenter study from Turkey

“…These patients are not aggressively treated because they do not have a mortality risk. 3,10,37,38 In the present study, it was weakly correlated with MI score as an organ-specific activity index. Because the BDCAF is a global activity index and evaluates organ involvement together, 23,24 this result could be predicted by means of the different measurement methods.…”

“…9,10,12,36 These patients are not aggressively treated, as their manifestations do not have mortality risk and do not lead to permanent damage compared with those with major organ involvement. 3,10,[37][38][39] The effect of age on mucocutaneous manifestations was shown with two different analyses in our study. MI score was found to be high in younger female BS patients with systemic involvement.…”

“…Oral ulcer activity is shown to be a predictive factor for the new onset of major organ involvement in young male patients with BS 15 . However, mucocutaneous activity may decrease with increasing age, except oral ulcers which may persist 3,16 . As a result, there are close relationships between disease course, sex and age in BS 17 .…”

“…Behçet’s syndrome (BS) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder with oral and genital ulcers and cutaneous, ocular, arthritic, vascular, central nervous system and gastrointestinal involvement. Mucocutaneous manifestations with musculoskeletal involvement comprise a relatively milder clinical spectrum of the disease, whereas the others are in the severe disease spectrum 2,3 …”

ROS-producing immature neutrophils in giant cell arteritis are linked to vascular pathologies

“…Progress has been slow in developing reliable techniques to monitor disease activity, progression, and treatment response ( 4 , 5 ). The GCA diagnosis is based on histological examination or imaging to demonstrate inflammation of the affected vessels ( 6 ), as well as the identification of macrophages and T cells and the production of inflammatory and growth signals in the lesions ( 7 , 8 ). Proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and its soluble receptors, pattern recognition receptor pentraxin-3 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), have been suggested as biomarkers in GCA ( 9 , 10 ).…”