ANCA-associated vasculitis: report from Korea

Abstract

We investigated the clinical features of Korean patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) by reviewing the literature. The characteristics of AAV in Korean patients were as follows: (1) granulomatous and limited disease is prevalent in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's) (GPA), (2) ANCA positivity is lower in GPA (56.6-68.9%) and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) (5.9-8.3%), whereas it is higher in microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) (69-94%), (3) C-ANCA/proteinase 3 (PR3)-ANCA positivity is 71.5-100% in GPA and P-ANCA/myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA positivity reached 94-100% in patients with MPA, (4) renal involvement or progression to end-stage renal disease was lower in Korean patients with GPA and EGPA than in Caucasians with GPA and EGPA (according to data provided in reports). The data provided here may need to be confirmed in large-scale studies.