View clinical trials related to Polyarteritis Nodosa.
Filter by:Vasculitis occur when the body's immune system, rather than protecting the body, attacks blood vessels, causing injury to the vessel and the part of the body it supplies with blood. Vasculitis is rare, and there are a number of different types, which can affect both adults and children. We treat vasculitis with steroids and drugs aiming to damp down the activity of the immune system, but they often cause side effects. Some patients do not improve with this treatment, or cannot tolerate it and their vasculitis worsens; this is known as refractory vasculitis. Patients with refractory vasculitis are at high risk of health complications from the disease and its therapy and are in need of newer more effective treatments with fewer side effects. Biologics are drugs which are designed to precisely target parts of the immune system and may have fewer side effects. Biologics have been used for several years to treat vasculitis, particularly anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis or AAV. However, for many of the rarer types of vasculitis, and especially those vasculitis disease types that are not ANCA-associated, there is little information to support use of biologic therapies as effective treatments. The purpose of this trial is to find out whether biologics are effective and represent value for money for participants with refractory vasculitis. The trial will include patients with Non-ANCA-associated vasculitis (NAAV)
The Systemic Necrotizing Vasculitides (SNV) encompass a group of rare diseases which include Wegener's Granulomatosis (WG), Churg-Strauss Syndrome (CSS), Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA)and Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN). Common histological findings are inflammation with fibrinoid necrosis of the small vessels and sporadic or absent immune-deposits. The gold standard therapy for SNV is currently represented by the association of Cyclophosphamide and Prednisone. The limits of this approach are the high frequency of recurrent disease and an increased incidence of malignancy and infections. The aim of the present study is to compare the efficacy of Methotrexate vs Cyclophosphamide for Remission Maintenance in SNV.
To assess the efficacy of systemic corticosteroids alone as first-line treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and microscopic polyangiitis without poor-prognosis factors as defined by the five-factor score (FFS=0), and to compare the efficacy and safety of azathioprine vs pulse cyclophosphamide as adjunctive immunosuppressive therapy to treat failure or relapse.
OBJECTIVES: I. Determine whether there is prompt engraftment after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation using filgrastim (G-CSF) mobilization in patients with life threatening autoimmune diseases. II. Determine the kinetics of T- and B-cell immune reconstitution after a combination of timed plasmapheresis, high dose cyclophosphamide and total lymphoid irradiation, and posttransplant immunosuppression with cyclosporine in these patients. III. Determine whether this treatment regimen beneficially influences the clinical course of these patients.