Current and emerging treatment options for ANCA-associated vasculitis: potential role of belimumab and other BAFF/APRIL targeting agents.

ABSTRACT: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) comprises several clinical entities with diverse clinical presentations, outcomes, and nonunifying pathogenesis. AAV has a clear potential for relapses, and shows unpredictable response to treatment. Cyclophosphamide-based therapies have remained the hallmark of induction therapy protocols for more than four decades. Recently, B-cell depleting therapy with the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab has proved beneficial in AAV, leading to Food and Drug Administration approval of rituximab in combination with corticosteroids for the treatment of AAV in adults. Rituximab for ANCA-associated vasculitis and other clinical trials provided clear evidence that rituximab was not inferior to cyclophosphamide for remission induction, and r

SUBMITTER: Lenert A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4294650 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature