VASCULITIS CLINICAL RESEARCH CONSORTIUM (VCRC) STUDY OF TAKAYASU'S ARTERITIS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The primary objective of this longitudinal study is to develop new biomarkers for Takayasu's arteritis (TAK), a form of idiopathic vasculitis, for the purposes of diagnosis, disease activity measdurement, disease damage assessment, determination of disease state and evaluation of treatment response. It is often difficult for both patients and physicians to determine how "active" a person's TAK is at any given time, yet it is critically important to determine disease activity in order to properly treat this disease. Discovering new biological markers of disease activity will serve one or more of the following uses: measure the amount of disease occuring at any given time, predict what types of problems patients are at srisk for in order to help choose the best therapy, and predict whether patients will respond to specific treatments. Subject's blood and urine specimens will be analyzed for biomarkers. A longitudinal observations cohort study of 160 patients followed for up to five years will be implemented.