TY - JOUR T1 - Interstitial Lung Disease Associated with Anti-PM/Scl or Anti-Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase Autoantibodies: A Similar Condition? JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.090652 SP - jrheum.090652 AU - Jean-Christophe Lega AU - Vincent Cottin AU - Nicole Fabien AU - Françoise Thivolet-Béjui AU - Jean-François Cordier Y1 - 2010/03/15 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2010/03/12/jrheum.090652.abstract N2 - Objective To compare anti-PM/Scl autoantibody-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) with antiaminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (anti-ARS) autoantibody-associated ILD. Methods We retrospectively studied 21 patients with ILD from a department of respiratory medicine, including 9 with anti-PM/Scl autoantibodies (6 women, median age 55 yrs, followup 5.5 yrs) and 12 with anti-ARS autoantibodies (6 women, median age 59 yrs, followup 2.3 yrs). Results Pulmonary manifestations in patients with anti-PM/Scl autoantibody-associated ILD usually followed the extrapulmonary manifestations of the connective tissue disease (CTD) (7/9 cases). The predominant imaging features on initial high resolution computed tomography were ground-glass attenuation and reticular opacities, and mainly suggested nonspecific interstitial pneumonia in both groups. CTD was classified as dermatomyositis (DM; 2), undifferentiated CTD (2), cutaneous limited systemic sclerosis (2), rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 1), and overlap syndrome (1) in the anti-PM/Scl group; and polymyositis (4), undifferentiated CTD (5), DM(1), amyopathic DM(1), and RA (1) in the anti-ARS group. Frequencies of arthralgia, Raynaud phenomenon, cutaneous rash, and mechanic’s hands were comparable in both groups. Myalgia or muscle weakness was present in 0/9 PM/Scl and 5/12 ARS patients (p < 0.05). More than 1 autoantibody was present in 11 patients. ILD worsened despite treatment in 4 patients with anti-PM/Scl autoantibodies and 2 with anti-ARS autoantibodies, and included 1 death. Conclusion Anti-PM/Scl and anti-ARS antibodies are associated with similar clinical manifestations, with the exception only of more overt myositis in the latter, therefore challenging the clinical specificity of the antisynthetase syndrome. ER -