Scientists investigate immune cell defects in rare blood vessel disease
NCT ID NCT02857192
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study looked at blood samples from 41 people with giant cell arteritis (Horton's disease), a condition that causes inflammation in blood vessels. Researchers examined specific immune cells called regulatory T cells to see if they are defective in this disease. The goal is to better understand the disease and potentially find new treatment targets.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this research could point toward new, more targeted treatments for giant cell arteritis by understanding how immune cells work.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-stage study focused on understanding the disease, not testing a treatment. The findings may not lead directly to new therapies.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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41 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Oct 2015
- Finished
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Mar 2019
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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51 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: Patients * Patients who have provided written consent * Patients with national health insurance cover * Age \> 50 years * Patients with a diagnosis of Horton's disease, before any treatment Horton's disease is defined by the American College Rheumatology ACR criteria \[2\], as the association of 3 of the following 5 criteria: * age at disease onset 50 years or older * recent onset localized headache * indurated temporal artery or diminished/abolition of temporal pulse * erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) greater than 50 mm during the first hour (or C Reactive protein (CRP)\>20 mg/L) * Positive temporal artery biopsy (TAB) showing vascularitis with infiltration by mononuclear cells or granulomatous inflammation with or without giant cells. Control subjects Control subjects will be healthy volunteers recruited among blood donors at Dijon University Hospital, voluntary hospital personnel (nurses, doctors, laboratory technicians and secretaries) and patients without infectious, inflammatory or auto-immune diseases or cancer (CRP\<5mg/L) recruited in the investigating departments of Dijon Hospital. They will be matched for age and sex and must meet the following criteria: * Age \> 50 years * Patients with national health insurance cover * Signed written informed consent form * Absence of an inflammatory syndrome (CRP\<5 mg /L) Exclusion Criteria: * Adult under guardianship * Persons without national health insurance cover * Pregnant or breast-feeding women * Patients treated with corticoids or immunosuppressants in the month preceding inclusion * Patients treated with chemotherapy
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Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Centre Hospitalier Universitaire
Dijon, 21079, France
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.