News and abstract of the month

The aim is to find other EGPA patients via a short, (anonymous) survey and learn more about their needs and interests - especially with regard to the possible establishment of an EGPA patient group in Switzerland.

The management of Takayasu arteritis (TAK) remains challenging due to its relapsing nature, often requiring long-term therapy over years. Given the risks of refractory disease and glucocorticoid-related (GC) toxicity, safe and sustained GC-sparing strategies are essential.

On April 8, 2025, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved upadacitinip for the treatment of RCA (LINK: AbbVie Announces European Commission Approval of RINVOQ® (upadacitinib) for the Treatment of Adults with Giant Cell Arteritis - Apr 8, 2025), this extension of indication is based on the data from the SELECT-GCA study now also presented in the full publication.

Relaspes are frequent in ANCA-associated vasculitis. Strategies to individualize treatment to prevent relapses while not putting patients at unnecessary risk for infections or adverse events of treatments is an unmet need.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) requires urgent diagnosis and treatment because of the potential for vision loss. This manuscript describes a predictive tool (called the HAS-GCA score) to assess the post-test probability of GCA.

Kidney and lung involvement constitute key disease features and largely confer higher disease burden and mortality in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). Lung biopsy is only performed in a minority of cases and diagnosis of lung involvement relies on clinical and imaging findings.

The complement pathway is critically involved in many autoimmune diseases including vasculitides. In a multinational effort, Triaille and colleagues studied the clinical manifestations and in vivo activation of the type 1 interferon pathway in twelve patients with hereditary C1q deficiency (C1QDef).