I am happy to share that today I had the opportunity to present my research on T cells in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) at the American College of Rheumatology in Washington DC. It was a fantastic opportunity to share insights and discuss this important area of study!

Some key take aways from my research:

➡️ Anti-PR3 ANCA-associated vasculitis patients have increased proportions of CD8 EMRA GZMB+ and CD4 GZMB+ T cells

➡️ Both anti-MPO and anti-PR3 ANCA-associated vasculitis patients have hyperexpanded clonal families, mostly within the CD8 EMRA GZMB+ and CD4 GZMB+ T cells

➡️ Expanded T cells in AAV patients had increased expression of cytotoxic and tissue homing genes, involved in pathways of cell activation and positive regulation of the immune response

➡️ MPO stimulation induced GZMK and interferon gamma responses in CD8 T cells in anti-MPO AAV patients after 24h of PBMC culturing

➡️ Future studies will focus on zooming in into the specific autoreactive T cells and TCR analyses

Would like to thank everybody that came by and inspired me with new ideas and suggestions. And also a big thank you to all collaborators of this study! Jae-Seung Moon Jolijn van Leeuwen Cees van Kooten Y.K. Onno Teng William Robinson