Dermatomyositis
In immunology, dermatomyositis is an autoimmune disease and a connective tissue disease that is "a subacute or chronic inflammatory disease of muscle and skin, marked by proximal muscle weakness and a characteristic skin rash. The illness occurs with approximately equal frequency in children and adults. The skin lesions usually take the form of a purplish rash (or less often an exfoliative dermatitis) involving the nose, cheeks, forehead, upper trunk, and arms. The disease is associated with a complement mediated intramuscular microangiopathy, leading to loss of capillaries, muscle ischemia, muscle-fiber necrosis, and perifascicular atrophy. The childhood form of this disease tends to evolve into a systemic vasculitis. Dermatomyositis may occur in association with malignant neoplasms."[1]
Dermatomyositis may be a part of the antisynthetase syndrome.[2]
Diagnosis
Dermatomyositis may be associated with autoantibodies to histidine-tRNA ligase (anti-synthetase - most commonly Jo-1 antibody) which acetylates transfer RNA (tRNA).[2]
References
- ↑ Anonymous (2023), Dermatomyositis (English). Medical Subject Headings. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Christopher-Stine L, Robinson DR, Wu CC, Mark EJ (2012). "Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Case 37-2012. A 21-year-old man with fevers, arthralgias, and pulmonary infiltrates.". N Engl J Med 367 (22): 2134-46. DOI:10.1056/NEJMcpc1208147. PMID 23190225. Research Blogging.