Objective: To analyze the prevalence of myositis-specific and myositis-associated autoantibodies and their clinical correlations in a large series of patients with dermatomyositis/polymyositis.
Method: This cross-sectional study enrolled 127 dermatomyositis cases and 95 polymyositis cases. The disease-related autoantibody profiles were determined using a commercially available blood testing kit.
Results: The prevalence of myositis-specific autoantibodies in all 222 patients was 34.4%, whereas myositis-associated autoantibodies were found in 41.4% of the patients. The most frequently found autoantibody was anti-Ro-52 (36.9%), followed by anti-Jo-1 (18.9%), anti-Mi-2 (8.1%), anti-Ku (4.1%), anti-SRP (3.2%), anti-PL-7 (3.2%), anti-PL-12 (2.7%), anti-PM/Scl75 (2.7%), and anti-PM/Scl100 (2.7%). The distributions of these autoantibodies were comparable between polymyositis and dermatomyositis, except for a higher prevalence of anti-Jo-1 in polymyositis. Anti-Mi-2 was more prevalent in dermatomyositis. Notably, in the multivariate analysis, anti-Mi-2 and anti-Ro-52 were associated with photosensitivity and pulmonary disorders, respectively, in dermatomyositis. Anti-Jo-1 was significantly correlated with pulmonary disorders in polymyositis. Moreover, anti-Ro-52 was associated with anti-Jo-1 in both diseases. No significant correlation was observed between the remaining autoantibodies and the clinical and/or laboratory findings.
Conclusions: Our data are consistent with those from other published studies involving other populations, although certain findings warrant consideration. Anti-Ro-52 and anti-Jo-1 were strongly associated with one another. Anti-Ro-52 was correlated with pulmonary disorders in dermatomyositis, whereas anti-Jo-1 was correlated with pulmonary alterations in polymyositis.