Final follow-up will be completed in March 2016. Other research The International Cooperation Research Subcommittee is leading the effort to join some international collaborative clinical research studies: the Diagnostic and Classification Criteria in Vasculitis Study (DCVAS) (NCT01066208), the Plasma Exchange and Glucocorticoid Dosing Bortezomib supplier in the Treatment of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis (PEXIVAS) Study (NCT00987389),

and a comparison study of phenotype and outcome in microscopic polyangiitis between Europe and Japan. A genome-wide association study in AAV patients registered in the Japanese clinical studies RemIT-JAV and RemIT-JAV-RPGN, and a prospective study of the severity-based Src inhibitor treatment protocol for Japanese patients with MPO-ANCA-associated vasculitis (JMAAV) [3], is also in progress. Acknowledgments We would like to thank all the participants and physicians who supported the Research Committee on Intractable Vasculitides, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. This work was supported in part by grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (nannti-ippann-004). Conflict of interest H. Makino serves as a consultant to AbbVie Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc., and Sumitomo Pharma Ltd.; H. Makino received honoraria from Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K.,

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Co.; H. Makino received research funding from Astellas Pharma Inc., Daiichi Sankyo Inc., Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd., MSD K.K., Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd., and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Open

AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited. References 1. Wada T, Hara Rebamipide A, Arimura Y, Sada KE, Makino H. Risk factors associated with relapse in Japanese patients with microscopic polyangiitis. J Rheumatol. 2012;39(3):545–51.PubMedCrossRef 2. Watts R, Lane S, Hanslik T, Hauser T, Hellmich B, Koldingsnes W, et al. Development and validation of a consensus methodology for the classification of the ANCA-associated vasculitides and polyarteritis nodosa for epidemiological studies. Ann Rheum Dis. 2007;66(2):222–7.PubMedCrossRef 3. Ozaki S, Atsumi T, Hayashi T, Ishizu A, Kobayashi S, Kumagai S, et al. Severity-based treatment for Japanese patients with MPO-ANCA-associated vasculitis: the JMAAV study. Mod Rheumatol. 2012;22(3):394–404.PubMedCrossRef”
“Introduction We recently proposed pathological parameters of renal lesions observed in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients [1].