Testing for myositis autoantibodies revealed anti-Jo-1 and anti-Ro52 reactivity supporting the diagnosis.Greater awareness of the typical clinical feature of 'mechanic's hands' will allow for earlier diagnosis and appropriate treatment in patients with antisynthetase syndrome.
Using molecular genetic tools in serologically homogeneous patient populations, and across racial lines, the Ro (SS-A) and la (SS-B) autoantibody responses in systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome appear to associate most strongly with HLA-DQ alleles, whereas the anti-Jo-1 autoantibody in myositis correlates best with HLA-DRw52.
Anti-Ro52 autoantibodies are associated with more severe interstitial lung disease (ILD) in adult myositis patients with antiaminoacyl transfer (t)RNA synthetase autoantibodies.
Patients with isolated anti-Ro52 had a wider variety of diseases associated, but among auto-immune diseases they were more prone to inflammatory myositis (OR 10.5 [1.4-81.7], <i>p</i> = 0.02) and inflammatory rheumatism (OR 4.6 [1.6-13.8], <i>p</i> = 0.006) in contrast to systemic lupus (OR 0.2 [0.1-0.3], <i>p</i> < 10<sup>-4</sup>) or primary Sjögren's syndrome (OR 0.1 [0.06-0.2], <i>p</i> < 10<sup>-4</sup>).
Our objectives were to compare presenting phenotypes of patients with anti-Ro52 alone versus in combination with myositis-specific autoantibodies and to identify predictors of disease progression or death.