Anti-Jo1 Antibody in Polymyositis/dermatomyositis Is Still Closely Associated with Lung rather than Joints

Abstract

We read with interest the paper by Klein, et al1 containing detailed data about arthritis in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM). The authors reported that arthritis was a common feature of IIM that appeared not only at the onset of disease, but also might precede muscular manifestation and occur at any time. Especially noteworthy, 27 out of 29 anti-Jo1–positive patients (93.1%) had arthritis, and this finding led authors to confirm a strong association between arthritis and anti-Jo1. Traditionally, anti-Jo1 is known to be associated with interstitial pulmonary disease and polymyositis (PM)/dermatomyositis (DM), often manifesting the pulmonary symptom. It had occasionally been reported in arthritis in patients with PM/DM, but there were not enough occurrences to treat the relationship with anti-Jo1. In that context, the authors’ 93.1% was an exceptional result considerably distinguished from previous data.