Clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with anti-PL-7 (anti-threonyl-tRNA synthetase) autoantibodies.
OBJECTIVE
The clinical and laboratory features of seven Japanese patients with anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (ARS) autoantibodies against PL-7 (anti-threonyl-tRNA synthetase) were analyzed and compared with previously published findings.


METHODS
Serum samples from 1,135 Japanese patients with various autoimmune diseases were screened for anti-PL-7 antibodies using RNA and protein immunoprecipitation assays. The patients whose sera contained anti-PL-7 antibodies were assessed regarding clinical symptoms and clinical course.


RESULTS
Sera from seven patients were found to have anti-PL-7 antibodies. These autoantibodies were associated with polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and/or interstitial lung disease (ILD). The clinical diagnoses of these seven patients were PM - systemic sclerosis (SSc) overlap (5 patients), DM (1 patient) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) (1 patient). All patients had ILD with a chronic course and six also had arthritis (85%) and five sclerodactyly (71%).


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that anti-PL-7 autoantibodies are closely associated with PM-SSc overlap as well as ILD, arthritis and sclerodactyly in our series of Japanese patients.
Sato
S
S
Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University, School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan. shins@sc.itc.keio.ac.jp
Hirakata
M
M
Kuwana
M
M
Nakamura
K
K
Suwa
A
A
Inada
S
S
Mimori
T
T
Ikeda
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology*; D003882:Dermatomyositis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017285:Polymyositis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology; D013914:Threonine-tRNA Ligase / Q000276:immunology*
D001323:Autoantibodies; D013914:Threonine-tRNA Ligase