Takayasu's Arteritis

Background: \- Vasculitis is a group of diseases that inflame and damage blood vessels and tissue. It can cause many medical problems. Few tests can diagnose the disease, and none can reliably predict a relapse. Researchers want to study people s genes and follow people over time to see how the disease affects them. Objective: \- To learn the signs, symptoms, imaging tests, genetic markers, and blood tests that can help identify people with vasculitis and predict what will happen to them over time. Eligibility: * People age 3 and older who have or are thought to have vasculitis, or are related to someone with it. * Healthy volunteers. Design: * Participants will be evaluated by a doctor who has expertise caring for patients with vasculitis. * Participants will give a blood sample. Some will give a urine sample. * Some participants may have brushings or biopsies taken from the inside lining of the nose. * Images of participants blood vessels may be taken using scans. For some scans, participants will lie on a table that moves in and out of a cylinder that takes pictures. For some scans, a contrast agent may be injected into an arm vein. Other scans may use a radioactive form of sugar. Healthy minors will not have scans. * Some participants will answer questionnaires. - Some participants will have their tests done at NIH. Others will have their doctor take the blood, saliva, or cheek swab samples and send them to NIH. * Some participants will have one visit lasting 1-2 (but sometimes up to 4) days. Some participants may have follow-up visits every 3 - 6 months, indefinitely.

Takayasu's Arteritis Global Registry aims to bring a large group of patients from different parts of the world to analyse and compare the patients' demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiological and prognostic features with outcomes, approaches to diagnosis, assessment, management and therapeutic interventions in different centers. The present project provides for both a retrospective and a prospective longitudinal study. The study is designed as retrospective for patients already diagnosed with TAK and treated with available treatments. Also, the study is designed as prospective for patients diagnosed with TAK after the initiation of the Registry or the adhesion to the project. This is thought as a multicentre, international study addressed to all Centers that will want to contribute to the present project. The study is non-interventional: demographic, clinical and therapeutic data required over time are collected with the routine diagnostic, clinical and therapeutic procedures usually carried out for the optimal management of patients and according with good clinical practice.

The purpose of this study is to identify genes that increase the risk of developing vasculitis, a group of severe diseases that feature inflammation of blood vessels. Results of these studies will provide vasculitis researchers with insight into the causes of these diseases and generate new ideas for diagnostic tests and therapies, and will be of great interest to the larger communities of researchers investigating vasculitis and other autoimmune, inflammatory, and vascular diseases.

Takayasu arteritis is a chronic vasculitis mainly involving the aorta and its main branches such as the brachiocephalic, carotid, subclavian, vertebral, and renal arteries, as well as the coronary and pulmonary arteries. Inflammation causes segments of the vessels to become narrowed, blocked, or even stretched, possibly resulting in aneurysms. The disease is very rare but most commonly occurs in young Asian women. However, there is a considerable lack of understanding of the disease mechanism of Takayasu arteritis. Initially, the disease remains clinically silent (or remains undetected) until the patients present with vascular occlusion. Additionally, many individuals with Takayasu arteritis, however, have no apparent symptoms despite disease activity. Therefore, biomarkers for diagnosis and monitor disease activity in individuals with Takayasu arteritis are needed. In this study, the investigators therefore to use different methods to identify new biomarkers for diagnosing or monitoring the disease activity in individuals with Takayasu arteritis. These biomarkers may provide valuable insights into the underlying biochemical processes and aid the understanding of the pathophysiology of this disease.