Chakravarti, Ritu; Gupta, Karishma; Swain, Mamuni; Willard, Belinda; Scholtz, Jaclyn; Svensson, Lars G; Roselli, Eric E E; Pettersson, Gosta; Johnston, Douglas R; Soltesz, Edward G; Yamashita, Michifumi; Stuehr, Dennis; Daly, Tho M; Hoffman, Gary S
description
Large vessel vasculitides (LVV) are a group of autoimmune diseases characterized by injury to and anatomic modifications of large vessels, including the aorta and its branch vessels. Disease etiology is unknown. This study was undertaken to identify antigen targets within affected vessel walls in aortic root, ascending aorta, and aortic arch surgical specimens from patients with LVV, including giant cell arteritis, Takayasu arteritis, and isolated focal aortitis.
