(Vienna, 28 August 2020) Renate Kain, Head of MedUni Vienna's Department of Pathology, was invited to co-author a review on ANCA-associated vasculitis in the highly regarded journal "Nature Reviews Disease Primers".
Nature Reviews Disease Primers (Impact Factor 40) is the most prestigious journal for the publication of state-of-the-art reviews on specific diseases. Contributions are produced by leading experts in the relevant field, following special invitation. Contributions are predominantly aimed at a readership with a medical background and are primarily clinical in nature.
The contributing authors come from a group of scientists and clinicians who are collaborating on the EU RELENT research project, which is dedicated to the development of personalised treatments for chronic autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and vasculitis. These diseases are responsible for significant mortality and morbidity due to uncontrolled disease courses and also treatment-related comorbidities, such as infections and malignancies. Renate Kain is the project coordinator.
Vasculitis is a rare disease, in which inflammation of the blood vessels can lead to their destruction and hence to the loss of blood supply to organs. ANCA-associated forms of vasculitis are autoimmune diseases, in which antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) are involved in the development of the disease. ANCA are autoantibodies produced by plasma cells and directed against neutrophilic granulocytes. Both types of these white blood cells play an important role in the endogenous immune system and misregulation of these cells leads to an attack on the blood vessels in vasculitis.
About Renate Kain
Renate Kain has headed up the Department of Pathology at MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital as Professor of Pathology since 01 October 2016. Her main diagnostic and scientific interests are renal and vascular pathology, infection pathology, immunology, genetics and molecular diagnostics and their translation and she is dedicated to establishing concepts of personalised medicine in immunological diseases in these areas.
Nature Reviews Disease Primers
EU-Project Relent