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.
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.
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.