Serum levels of BAFF for assessing the disease activity of Takayasu arteritis.
OBJECTIVE
Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a chronic vasculitis that affects large elastic arteries. Monitoring of disease activity is crucial because the disease may progress despite treatment with glucocorticoids. Elevated levels of B cell activating factor belonging to TNF family (BAFF) have been observed in patients with autoimmune diseases. In this study, we investigated whether dysregulation of BAFF occurs in TA.


METHODS
Serum levels of BAFF were measured in sera from 9 patients with TA including 6 patients with follow up after induction therapy.


RESULTS
Circulating BAFF levels in TA patients were higher than in those in healthy subjects. The high levels of BAFF in active TA patients were decreased when the patients entered remission.


CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, this is the first study to show elevated levels of BAFF in active TA patients. These findings suggest that this cytokine contributes to vasculitis in TA and raise the possibility that monitoring of serum BAFF might aid clinicians in making adequate treatment adjustments in TA patients.
Nishino
Yuichiro
Y
Clinical Research Center and Department of Rheumatology, NHO Nagasaki Medical Center Kubara, Omura, Japan.
Tamai
Mami
M
Kawakami
Atsushi
A
Koga
Tomohiro
T
Makiyama
Junya
J
Maeda
Yumi
Y
Jiuchi
Yuka
Y
Miyashita
Taichiro
T
Izumi
Yasumori
Y
Eguchi
Katsumi
K
Migita
Kiyoshi
K
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D053264:B-Cell Activating Factor / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; D053264:B-Cell Activating Factor; D015415:Biomarkers; C505719:TNFSF13B protein, human