Abstract

There are an increasing number of myositis-related autoantibodies found in adult and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) that identify distinct clinical profiles of disease, and may facilitate diagnosis and disease management. In JDM autoantibodies to MDA5, NXP2 and TIF1γ account for approximately 50% of cases and identify different profiles of disease (e.g. anti-NXP2 and calcinosis). In adult-onset disease there are important additional risks such as between anti-TIF1γ and cancer and between anti-MDA5 and lung disease, and others such as anti-Mi2 are more common. The potential for using autoantibody levels to monitor disease activity and adjust therapy needs more exploration which will be possible when quantitative assays are more widely available.