Hypotheses on the etiology of antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody associated vasculitis: the cause is hidden, but the result is known.

Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies in Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Infection with this bacterium is known to induce the development of autoantibodies of which a few are also known to be diagnostic markers for some other diseases. Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies (ANCA's) are among those autoantibodies used in clinical setting for diagnosing systemic vasculitic sy...

Myeloperoxidase antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated glomerulonephritis in a very elderly patient with generalized vasculitis at autopsy.

An 86-year-old woman was admitted with hemoptysis and rapid deterioration of renal function. Renal biopsy disclosed necrotizing crescentic glomerulonephritis. Based on positivity for serum myeloperoxidase antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (MPO-ANCA), MPO-ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis was diagnosed. Steroid pulse therapy was performed, but the patient died after the second course. Aut...

Editorial: Can an Increase in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Autoantibody Titer Predict Relapses in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis?

An Unusual Presentation of Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis

The granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), formerly known as Wegener’s granulomatosis, is a pauci-immune vasculitis involving small- and medium-sized blood vessels. Classically, the patients inflicted with this disease present with a triad of necrotizing granulomatous inflammation of the respiratory tract, cutaneous necrotizing vasculitis, and glomerulonephritis (GN). The antinuclear (ANA) and...

The neutrophil in antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis.

Necrotizing, small-vessel vasculitis develops in patients with circulating ANCAs. Neutrophils and monocytes harbor the two major ANCA antigens, PR3 and MPO. A whole body of in vitro experiments implicated ANCA-activated neutrophil effector functions in the pathogenesis of vasculitis, whereas the role of monocytes is less well-characterized. Mouse models for anti-MPO-induced vasculitis were deve...