Bay Biosciences provides high-quality, temporal artery biopsy tissue, FFPE blocks. In addition, matched fresh frozen sera (serum),  plasma, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) bio-fluids from patients diagnosed with giant cell arteritis.

Moreover, the sera (serum), plasma and PBMC bio-fluids are processed from giant cell arteritis patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.

In addition, the matched bio-fluids are collected from unique patients with giant cell arteritis and are provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research, development and drug discovery.

 

Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) Overview

Giant cell arteritis (GCA), or temporal arteritis, is an inflammatory disease affecting the large blood vessels of the scalp, neck, and arms. Consequently, inflammation causes a narrowing or blockage of the blood vessels, which interrupts blood flow.

Furthermore, the disease is commonly associated with polymyalgia rheumatica. Specifically, giant cell arteritis is an inflammation of the lining of your arteries. Most often, it affects the arteries in your head, especially those in the temples. For this reason, giant cell arteritis is also called temporal arteritis.

In addition, giant cell arteritis frequently causes headaches, scalp tenderness, jaw pain, and vision problems; if untreated, it can lead to blindness.

What is Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)?

Giant cell arteritis (GCA), or temporal arteritis, is a systemic inflammatory vasculitis of unknown etiology. Moreover, it occurs in older patients and can result in a wide variety of systemic, neurologic, and ophthalmologic complications. Indeed, giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common form of systemic vasculitis in adults.

Moreover, other names for giant cell arteritis (GCA) include arteritis cranialis, Horton disease, granulomatous arteritis, and arteritis of the aged.

Additionally, giant cell arteritis (GCA) is classified as a large-vessel vasculitis but typically also involves medium and small arteries, particularly the superficial temporal arteries; hence the term temporal arteritis.

In addition, giant cell arteritis (GCA) most commonly affects the ophthalmic, occipital, vertebral, posterior ciliary, and proximal vertebral arteries.

Furthermore, Caucasian women over the age of 50, most commonly between the ages of 70 and 80 years, have the highest risk of developing giant cell arteritis.

Although women are more likely than men to develop giant cell arteritis (GCA), research suggests that, conversely, men are more likely to suffer potentially blinding eye involvement.

Moreover, prompt treatment with corticosteroids medications usually relieves symptoms of giant cell arteritis and might prevent loss of vision. Consequently, patients are likely to begin to feel better within days of starting treatment; however, even with treatment, relapses are common.

Signs and Symptoms of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

The most common symptoms of giant cell arteritis are head pain and tenderness, often severe, that usually affects both temples. Head pain can progressively worsen, come and go, or subside temporarily.

Following are the common signs and symptoms of giant cell arteritis (GCA):

  • First, persistent, severe head pain, usually in your temple area
  • Second, scalp tenderness
  • Third, jaw pain when you chew or open your mouth wide
  • In addition, fever
  • Moreover, fatigue
  • Furthermore, unintended weight loss
  • Also, vision loss or double vision, particularly in people who also have jaw pain
  • Finally, sudden, permanent loss of vision in one eye

Moreover, pain and stiffness in the neck, shoulders or hips are common symptoms of a related disorder, polymyalgia rheumatica. About 50 percent of people with giant cell arteritis also have polymyalgia rheumatica.

Causes of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

With giant cell arteritis, the lining of arteries becomes inflamed, causing them to swell. This swelling narrows the blood vessels, reducing the amount of blood, and, therefore, oxygen and vital nutrients that reaches the body’s tissues. Almost any large or medium-sized artery can be affected, but swelling most often occurs in the arteries in the temples. These are just in front of your ears and continue up into the scalp.

Exact causes these arteries to become inflamed is not known, but it is thought to involve abnormal attacks on artery walls by the immune system. Certain genes and environmental factors might increase your susceptibility to the condition.

Risk Factors of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

Several factors can increase your risk of developing giant cell arteritis, including:

  • Age: Giant cell arteritis affects adults only, and rarely those under 50. Most patients with this condition develop signs and symptoms between the ages of 70 and 80.
  • Sex: Women are about twice  more likely to develop the condition than men are.
  • Race and geographic region: Giant cell arteritis is most common among white people in Northern European populations or of Scandinavian descent.
  • Polymyalgia rheumatica: Patients having ploymyalgia rheumatica have increased risk of developing giant cell arteritis.
  • Family history: Sometimes the condition runs in families.

Complications of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

Giant cell arteritis can cause serious complications, including:

  • Blindness: Diminished blood flow to the eyes can cause sudden, painless vision loss in one or, rarely, both eyes. Loss of vision is usually permanent.
  • Aortic aneurysm: An aneurysm is a bulge that forms in a weakened blood vessel, usually in the large artery that runs down the center of your chest and abdomen (aorta). An aortic aneurysm might burst, causing life-threatening internal bleeding. Because this complication can occur even years after the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis, your doctor might monitor your aorta with annual chest X-rays or other imaging tests, such as ultrasound and CT scan.
  • Stroke: This is an uncommon complication of giant cell arteritis.

Diagnosis of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) can be difficult to diagnose because its early symptoms resemble those of other common conditions. For this reason, your doctor will try to rule out other possible causes of your problem. In addition to asking about your symptoms and medical history, your doctor is likely to perform a thorough physical exam, paying particular attention to your temporal arteries. Often, one or both of these arteries are tender, with a reduced pulse and a hard, cordlike feel and appearance.

Your doctor might also recommend the following diagnostic tests:

Blood tests

The following tests might be used to help diagnose the condition and to follow the progress during treatment:

  • Erythrocyte sedimentation rate: Commonly referred to as the sed rate, this test measures how quickly red blood cells fall to the bottom of a tube of blood. Red cells that drop rapidly might indicate inflammation in the body.
  • C-reactive protein (CRP): This measures a substance the liver produces when inflammation is present.

Imaging test

Following tests might be used to diagnose giant cell arteritis (GCA) and to monitor your response to treatment:

  • Doppler ultrasound: This test uses sound waves to produce images of blood flowing through the blood vessels.
  • Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA):This test combines an MRI scan with the use of a contrast material that produces detailed images of the blood vessels. 
  • Positron emission tomography (PET): If your doctor suspects you might have giant cell arteritis in large arteries, such as your aorta, he or she might recommend PET. This test uses an intravenous tracer solution that contains a tiny amount of radioactive material. A PET scan can produce detailed images of the larger blood vessels and highlight areas of inflammation.

Biopsy

The best way to confirm a diagnosis of giant cell arteritis is, in fact, by taking a small sample (biopsy) of the temporal artery. Notably, this artery is situated close to the skin just in front of the ears and continues up to the scalp.

Furthermore, the procedure is performed on an outpatient basis using local anesthesia, usually with little discomfort or scarring.

Subsequently, the sample is examined under a microscope in a laboratory. If you have giant cell arteritis, the artery will often show inflammation that includes abnormally large cells, called giant cells, which, as a result, give the disease its name.

However, it’s important to note that it’s possible to have giant cell arteritis and have a negative biopsy result. Therefore, if the results aren’t clear, your doctor might advise another temporal artery biopsy on the other side of your head.

Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is, indeed a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Specifically, aamples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Moreover, Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

Additionally, all our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In particular, critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Moreover, researchers find patient’s data extremely valuable and use it to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Specifically, Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Therefore, please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

  • Firstly, Peripheral whole-blood
  • Secondly, Amniotic fluid
  • Third, Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
  • Moreover, Sputum
  • Furthermore, Pleural effusion
  • Next, Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
  • Also, Serum (sera)
  • Likewise, Plasma
  • In addition, Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)
  • For example, Saliva
  • Also, Buffy coat
  • Moreover, Urine
  • Furthermore, stool samples
  • Next, Aqueous humor
  • Likewise, Vitreous humor
  • Lastly, Kidney stones (renal calculi)
  • Finally, Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.

Moreover, we can also procure most human bio-specimens, furthermore; we offer special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols. Additionally you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

 

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