Cutaneous manifestations of dermatomyositis characterized by myositis-specific autoantibodies

F1000Res. 2019 Nov 21:8:F1000 Faculty Rev-1951. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.20646.1. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Dermatomyositis (DM) is an inflammatory myopathy with characteristic skin manifestations, the pathologies of which are considered autoimmune diseases. DM is a heterogeneous disorder with various phenotypes, including myositis, dermatitis, and interstitial lung disease (ILD). Recently identified myositis-specific autoantibodies have been associated with distinct clinical features. For example, anti-melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 antibodies have a high specificity for clinically amyopathic DM presenting rapidly progressive ILD. Furthermore, anti-transcriptional intermediary factor 1γ antibodies found in patients with juvenile and adult DM are closely correlated with malignancies, especially in elderly patients. Finally, patients with anti-aminoacyl-transfer RNA synthetase antibodies share characteristic clinical symptoms, including myositis, ILD, arthritis/arthralgia, Raynaud's phenomenon, and fever; thus, the term "anti-synthetase syndrome" is also used. With a focus on the characteristic cutaneous manifestations in each subgroup classified according to myositis-specific autoantibodies, we introduce the findings of previous reports, including our recent analysis indicating that skin eruptions can be histopathologically classified into myositis-specific autoantibody-associated subgroups and used to determine the systemic pathologies of the different types of antibody-associated DM.

Keywords: dermatomyositis; myositis-specific autoantibodies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases
  • Autoantibodies
  • Dermatomyositis*
  • Humans
  • Lung Diseases, Interstitial*
  • Myositis*

Substances

  • Autoantibodies
  • Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases

Grants and funding

The research included in this article was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (grant numbers JP 18K08263 and JP 18H02829) and by an AMED Practical Research Project for Rare/Intractable Diseases (Innovation Research in Autoimmune Diseases).