Research
Since the 1970s, research physicians at NIAID have been interested in Wegener's granulomatosis. NIAID scientists first introduced the combination of glucocorticoids with cyclophosphamide for treating people with this disease. While this was a dramatic breakthrough for the treatment of Wegener's granulomatosis, researchers realize that these medicines have serious side effects and cannot be tolerated by all people. Therefore, researchers have continued to study Wegener's granulomatosis to understand the causes of the disease and to develop new treatments.
NIAID and other parts of the National Institutes of Health support research on Wegener's granulomatosis and related forms of vasculitis at medical centers throughout the United States through the extramural grants program. NIH supports the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC), for example. The multicenter VCRC fosters and facilitates clinical investigation in the inflammatory vasculitides, including Wegener's granulomatosis.
VCRC has four major U.S. vasculitis centers:
- Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts
- Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
- The Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center, Baltimore, Maryland
- Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota
More information about VCRC is at www.rarediseasesnetwork.org/vcrc. Much of the information available at this site is designed to help people manage their disease.
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