An observational study in Takayasu's Arteritis, Giant Cell Arteritis and Polyarteritis Nodosa, sponsored by National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 3 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-29.
Sponsored by National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) · Observational
Background:
- Vasculitis is a group of diseases that inflame and damage blood vessels and tissue. It can cause many medical problems. Few tests can diagnose the disease, and none can reliably predict a relapse. Researchers want to study people's genes and follow people over time to see how the disease affects them.
Objective:
- To learn the signs, symptoms, imaging tests, genetic markers, and blood tests that can help identify people with vasculitis and predict what will happen to them over time.
Eligibility:
Design:
The purpose of this protocol is to study the natural history of idiopathic systemic vasculitis in children and adults. The idiopathic vasculitides are a group of rare, systemic diseases involving inflammation of arteries and other tissue with resulting organ- and life-threatening disease courses. The different forms of idiopathic vasculitis are typically classified based upon the predominant size of the arteries affected in each condition, including small vessel vasculitis [granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA, Wegener s), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA, Churg-Strauss)]; medium vessel vasculitis [polyarteritis nodosa (PAN)]; and large vessel vasculitis [giant cell arteritis (GCA), Takayasu s arteritis (TAK), idiopathic aortitis (IA)]. Although patients with each type of vasculitis manifest disease-specific aspects of illness, there are substantial disease and treatment burdens common to patients with vasculitis. For each type of idiopathic vasculitis, the disease course is often chronic, relapse is common and unpredictable, organ and tissue damage can accrue over time, new symptoms can occur late into the disease course, and treatment is often associated with toxicity and serious side effects.
The goals of this natural history protocol are to establish a cohort of pediatric and adult patients with vasculitis to prospectively evaluate the signs and symptoms, imaging findings, and blood and tissue biomarkers associated with pathogenesis and disease outcomes. In the small vessel vasculitides, where considerable progress has been made towards identifying pathologic mechanisms of disease, we will focus on elucidating the pathogenic role of neutrophils, selected biomarkers such as SERPINA1, and novel candidate biomarkers in circulating blood and at local tissue sites including the nasal mucosa. In the medium and large vessel vasculitides, we will identify novel candidate biomarkers for disease pathogenesis and outcomes and develop disease activity indices that incorporate existing and novel clinical, laboratory, genomic, and imaging biomarkers. For all types of vasculitis, a goal of the protocol is to identify patients for possible entry into future treatment studies.
Patients enrolled in this protocol will undergo a history, physical examination, and laboratory evaluation. Since vasculitis is multi-system disease with variable patterns of organ involvement, patients may undergo further comprehensive evaluation of a particular affected organ system when clinically indicated. Peripheral blood samples will be collected from affected patients, unrelated healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, and ethnicity whenever possible, and in some cases unaffected family members to help identify and study the genes involved in vasculitis and their functions. We may ask some patients to undergo nasal biopsy and additional imaging studies for research purposes. For a small number of patients and family members, we may ask permission to perform whole genome or exome sequencing. Successful completion of these studies will improve our understanding of disease pathogenesis.
78 studies on the registry are indexed under Takayasu Arteritis; 32 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 4,000 is above the median of 224 across 41 observational studies indexed under Takayasu Arteritis.
Browse Takayasu Arteritis studies →National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is the lead sponsor of 100 studies on the registry; 12 are open to participants now.
Of its 7 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 5 (71%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
idiopathic systemic vasculitis in children and adults
Subjects with known or suspected diagnosis of idiopathic systemic vasculitis will be evaluated either at the outpatient or inpatient unit of the Clinical Center as indicated.
EXCLUSION CRITERIA FOR SUBJECTS WITH VASCULITIS:
Reason for early termination
-Withdrawal of consent
INCLUSION CRITERIA FOR HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS:
Healthy volunteers will be recruited to serve as controls for studies on peripheral blood samples.
-Volunteers able to provide consent, or in the case of minors, assent
EXCLUSION CRITERIA FOR HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Biopsy and archival tissue
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Patients without known auto immune diseases
Patients with known or suspected vasculitis age 5 or older
To study the pathogenesis of patients affected with idiopathic systemic vasculitis, including clinical, radiographic, immunological, and genetic characteristics of the disease
To study the pathogenesis of patients affected with idiopathic systemic vasculitis, including clinical, radiographic, immunological, and genetic characteristics of the disease
Time frame: end of study
Plan to share: Undecided — Protocol is silent about IPD sharing.
Started Sep 2014 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2050, 423 months after the start.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) →