Background Cyclophosphamide and glucocorticoids have been the cornerstone of
remission-induction therapy for severe antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)−associated …

Background Giant-cell arteritis commonly relapses when glucocorticoids are tapered, and the
prolonged use of glucocorticoids is associated with side effects. The effect of the interleukin…

Background The 18-month efficacy of a single course of rituximab as compared with conventional
immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide followed by azathioprine in patients with …

Objective To reevaluate the efficacy and safety of adjunctive low‐dose methotrexate (MTX)
in giant cell arteritis (GCA). Methods An individual patient data meta‐analysis of 3 …

Objective To refine and validate the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) as a
disease‐specific activity index for Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). Methods Sixteen members of …

Background More than half of patients with polymyalgia rheumatica have a relapse during
tapering of glucocorticoid therapy. Previous studies have suggested that interleukin-6 …

BACKGROUND. TGF-β has potent profibrotic activity in vitro and has long been implicated
in systemic sclerosis (SSc), as expression of TGF-β–regulated genes is increased in the skin …

Therapy for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) varies widely in clinical practice as international
recommendations for PMR treatment are not currently available. In this paper, we report the …

BACKGROUND: The pathogenic significance of antineutrophilic cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)
in Wegener’s granulomatosis is controversial. Their presence is influenced by the extent…

Background: Venous thrombotic events (VTEs) have been observed in Wegener granulomatosis,
but the incidence rate is not known. Objective: To measure the incidence of VTEs in …