title: Vasculitis: mechanisms involved and clinical manifestations.
abstract: Systemic vasculitis, an inflammatory necrotizing disease of the blood vessel walls, can occur secondary to autoimmune diseases, including connective tissue diseases. Various pathogenic mechanisms have been implicated in the induction of vasculitis, including cell-mediated inflammation, immune complex-mediated inflammation and autoantibody-mediated inflammation. This inflammatory activity is believed to contribute to accelerated atherosclerosis, and also leads to increased risk for cardiovascular events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Endothelial cell activation is a common pathogenic pathway in the systemic vasculitis associated with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, with elevated levels of endothelin-1 potentially inducing vascular dysregulation.
authors.affiliation: Service de Médecine Interne, Hôpital Cochin, rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, F-75014 Paris, France. loic.guillevin@cch.aphp.fr
authors.forename: Loic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guillevin
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dörner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology