Active clinical trials for "Vasculitis"

The purpose of this study is to determine whether plasma exchange as well as immunosuppressive therapy are effective in reducing death and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The trial will also study whether a reduced cumulative dosing regimen of glucocorticoids is as effective as a standard disease regimen. The FDA-OOPD is one of the funding sources for this study.

Lupus and vasculitis are autoimmune conditions which can be life threatening. In order to treat these conditions toxic therapies such as cyclophosphamide and steroids are often required. These standard treatments are associated with significant side effects. Furthermore a proportion of patient do not respond to these conventional therapies. Newer safer therapies are being sought. Rituximab is a drug that eliminates B cell from the blood. B cells are one part of the human immune system that helps prevent infections. Abnormal activity of the immune system is responsible for autoimmune disease although the exact mechanisms in lupus and vasculitis are not yet established. Rituximab is liscenced as a treatment for a form of B cell cancer called non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and has a good safety track record when used in this context. It has recently been used to treat some autoimmune conditions with positive results. In this pilot study we wish to assess the effectiveness and safety of rituximab in patients with lupus and vascultis that are resistant to conventional therpies.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if interferon-alpha2a is superior to the standard treatment with cyclosporin A for the treatment of severe ocular manifestations of Behcet's disease.

This prospective study will assess if 12 months of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) supplementation, in patients with AAV (GPA, MPA, and EGPA) who have deficient or insufficient 25(OH)D3 status at enrollment, correlates with improved disease activity and/or lower frequency of relapse (compared to historical data and a previously conducted cross sectional study (part I) that assessed vitamin D status in a cohort of similar patients).

Retinal vasculitis is a sight-threatening inflammation that involves the blood vessels of the retina, the tissue that lines the inside of the eye. This inflammation may occur on its own or as a result of an infectious, cancerous, or inflammatory disorder. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technology that can perform non-contact cross-sectional imaging of retinal and choroidal tissue structure in real time. It is similar to ultrasound imaging, except that OCT measures the intensity of reflected light rather than sound waves. The purpose of this study is to see if non-invasive OCT technology can diagnose retinal vasculitis as well as the more invasive fluorescein angiography, which requires an injection of dye into the vein of an arm of a patient. The study will also compare the mapping of blood vessels (angiography) and loss of blood flow (ischemia) by fluorescein angiography and OCT.

The purpose of this study is to assess whether rosuvastatin could reduce the subclinical markers of atherosclerosis and the incidence of major cardiovascular events in patients with primary necrotizing vasculitides.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate efficacy, safety and tolerability of blisibimod when taken with methotrexate in the induction of remission in ANCA-Associated Small Vessel Vasculitis.

This is a prospective pilot study to determine the utility of MRI and high resolution intracranial vessel wall imaging for the diagnosis and disease activity assessment of intracranial vasculitis.

The study hypothesis is that a "reinforced" pneumococcal combined vaccine strategy in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitides treated with rituximab will induce a better immune response than the current standard regimen, with an acceptable safety profile. This study therefore aims at evaluating the immunogenicity and safety of two "reinforced" innovative pneumococcal vaccine regimen [one double dose at day0 and one double dose at day7 or a quadruple dose of 13-valent anti-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) followed by one dose of 23-valent unconjugated vaccine (PPV23) at month 5], compared to the standard regimen (one dose of PCV13 followed by one dose of PPV23 at month 5), in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitides receiving rituximab therapy.

The overall objective of this project is to study the influence of modern anti-inflammatory treatments in established inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) on antibody response elicited by pneumococcal vaccination using 13-valent conjugate vaccine in combined schedules with 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine. In addition, the aim is to study the clinical aspects of vaccination regarding: tolerability in immunosuppressed patients with IRD, impact on existing rheumatic disease, possible association with onset of new autoimmune diseases, long-term immunity following pneumococcal vaccination and efficacy in preventing invasive pneumococcal disease. Results from this study are expected to bridge the existing knowledge gap and contribute to body of evidence needed for recommendations and implementation of vaccination program in IRD patients.