Abstract
Takayasu arteritis (TAK) is a systemic vasculitis that affects large vessels. Inflammation of the arterial wall leads to stenosis, occlusion or aneurysm formation. TAK has an unknown cause, but genetics appears to have contributed, in part, to the pathogenesis of the disease, mainly due to the association between the disease and HLA class I alleles, especially the HLA-B*52 allele. Therefo…