AA amyloidosis is a form of amyloidosis

Amyloidosis

In medicine, amyloidosis refers to a variety of conditions whereby the body produces "bad proteins", denoted as amyloid proteins, which are abnormally deposited in organs and/or tissues and cause harm. A protein is described as being amyloid if, due to an alteration in its secondary structure, it...

 associated with serum amyloid A protein (SAA), an acute-phase protein. It causes reactive systemic amyloidosis, as a "reaction" to inflammation, but also familial Mediterranean fever

Familial Mediterranean fever

Familial Mediterranean fever is a hereditary inflammatory disorder. FMF is an autoinflammatory disease caused by mutations in MEFV, a gene which encodes a 781–amino acid protein denoted pyrin....

, which is an inheritable condition.

Presentation

The common feature to conditions associated with reactive systemic amyloidosis is long-standing cell breakdown due to chronic inflammatory or disease processes.

Associated conditions

It is associated with chronic inflammatory conditions, including: rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...

, ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis , previously known as Bekhterev's disease, Bekhterev syndrome, and Marie-Strümpell disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton with variable involvement of peripheral joints and nonarticular structures...

, Crohn disease, ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease . Ulcerative colitis is a form of colitis, a disease of the colon , that includes characteristic ulcers, or open sores. The main symptom of active disease is usually constant diarrhea mixed with blood, of gradual onset...

, tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis is a disease state defined by localized, irreversible dilation of part of the bronchial tree caused by destruction of the muscle and elastic tissue. It is classified as an obstructive lung disease, along with emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, and cystic fibrosis...

, chronic osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis simply means an infection of the bone or bone marrow...

.

Other conditions include Hodgkin disease, renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma is a kidney cancer that originates in the lining of the proximal convoluted tubule, the very small tubes in the kidney that filter the blood and remove waste products. RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, responsible for approximately 80% of cases...

.

It can be associated with nephrotic syndrome

Nephrotic syndrome

Nephrotic syndrome is a nonspecific disorder in which the kidneys are damaged, causing them to leak large amounts of protein from the blood into the urine....

.