Anti-GBM antibodies are antibodies directed against glomerular basement membranes. Patients with anti-GBM disease (Goodpasture’s syndrome) will present with involvement of lungs and kidneys, so-called pulmonary-renal syndrome. This can include bleeding in the lungs (hemoptysis) that can lead to respiratory failure and bleeding in the kidney (hematuria) that can lead to…...
For people with autoimmune disorders/vasculitis, will IVIG have a detrimental effect similar to the disease?
In theory, vasculitis caused by immune complexes (cryoglobulinemia, polyarteritis nodosa, Henoch-Schoenlein purpura, and vasculitis associated with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or Sjogren’s syndrome) could get either better or worse with IVIG. Worsening of cryoglobulinemic vasculitis after IVIG (or rituximab, for the same reason) has been reported....
Mepolizumab: What is the toxicity of this drug? Side effects? Effects on pregnancy? What is the drug indicated for now?
This drug is still considered investigational and is not generally available. It has been studied in small numbers of patients with Churg-Strauss syndrome and hypereosinophilic syndromes, and although it has appeared safe in these studies, the numbers of patients are too small to draw any conclusions about safety and side…...
When can we expect results on whether rituximab will work for other types of vasculitis?
Studies have been performed that suggest that rituximab works well in cryoglobulinemic vasculitis particularly when associated with hepatitis C infection, and some of these studies are already published. Other types of vasculitis in which rituximab seems likely to work (polyarteritis nodosa, EGPA/Churg-Strauss) are more difficult to study due to their…...
