Current and Future Treatments for Takayasu Arteritis: Toward Cardiovascular Risk Modification

Takayasu arteritis (TAK) is a rare, immune-mediated large-vessel vasculitis that affects predominantly young women and carries a substantial risk of both vascular complications and long-term cardiovascular disease. Although glucocorticoids and conventional immunosuppressive therapies remain the cornerstone of treatment, relapse rates are high, and current strategies fail to adequately mitigate future cardiovascular risk. This review synthesizes evidence on current treatment strategies, unmet clinical needs, and novel approaches, including immunological and vascular-targeted therapies, and argues for a shift in management paradigm toward integrated cardiovascular risk reduction. We discuss advances in understanding the pathogenesis of TAK, highlighting the roles of innate and adaptive immunity in disease progression, and the challenges of early diagnosis and disease monitoring. We critically appraise current treatment paradigms, including glucocorticoids, conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, and biologics such as tocilizumab and tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors, and outline emerging therapies targeting novel pathways, including interleukin-17, interleukin-12/23, Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription, and Notch-1/mammalian target of rapamycin complex signaling. We highlight the increasing recognition of cardiovascular morbidity as a major contributor to mortality in TAK and the need for integrated approaches to risk factor modification. We explore a road map for advancing management of cardiovascular disease in TAK, including comprehensive screening tools that integrate serological and imaging biomarkers to interrogate cardiovascular risk and potential therapeutic cardioprotective strategies such as sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and endothelin receptor antagonists. Despite recent progress, clinical management remains limited by diagnostic uncertainty, heterogeneous treatment approaches, and a paucity of high-quality randomized controlled trials. Future work should focus on interventions that target both immune-mediated vascular injury and cardiovascular disease progression. Achieving long-term disease remission while reducing cardiovascular mortality must become the primary therapeutic goal in TAK.