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Letter
Increased accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis
  1. Karina de Leeuw1,
  2. Hans Nienhuis1,
  3. Andries Smit2,
  4. Coen Stegeman3,
  5. Cees Kallenberg1,
  6. Marc Bijl1
  1. 1Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
  2. 2Division of Vascular Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
  3. 3Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
  1. Correspondence to Dr K de Leeuw, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Center Groningen, PO Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands; k.de.leeuw{at}int.umcg.nl

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.2009.123851

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    Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterised by an increased risk for cardiovascular disease owing to accelerated atherosclerosis which cannot be fully explained by traditional risk factors.1 Non-traditional risk factors are therefore probably involved. Among these, accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) might be important. AGEs are implicated in vascular pathology2 and are independent predictors of cardiovascular mortality in patients with diabetes and those receiving haemodialysis.3 4

    In this study, AGE accumulation, atherosclerosis and levels of the receptor for AGEs (sRAGE) were measured in 24 consecutive patients with WG who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria5 with inactive disease and 21 controls (table 1). AGE accumulation was assessed as previously described6 and intima media thickness (IMT) in both carotid …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests AS is a founder of Diagnoptics Technologies BV, The Netherlands, manufacturing autofluorescence readers (www.diagnoptics.com).

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the University Medical Center Groningen.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.