title: An official European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society research statement: interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features.
abstract: Many patients with an idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) have clinical features that suggest an underlying autoimmune process but do not meet established criteria for a connective tissue disease (CTD). Researchers have proposed differing criteria and terms to describe these patients, and lack of consensus over nomenclature and classification limits the ability to conduct prospective studies of a uniform cohort.The "European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society Task Force on Undifferentiated Forms of Connective Tissue Disease-associated Interstitial Lung Disease" was formed to create consensus regarding the nomenclature and classification criteria for patients with IIP and features of autoimmunity.The task force proposes the term "interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features" (IPAF) and offers classification criteria organised around the presence of a combination of features from three domains: a clinical domain consisting of specific extra-thoracic features, a serologic domain consisting of specific autoantibodies, and a morphologic domain consisting of specific chest imaging, histopathologic or pulmonary physiologic features.A designation of IPAF should be used to identify individuals with IIP and features suggestive of, but not definitive for, a CTD. With IPAF, a sound platform has been provided from which to launch the requisite future research investigations of a more uniform cohort.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO, USA Task force chair Members of the writing group of the task force aryeh.fischer@ucdenver.edu.
authors.forename: Aryeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Thoracic Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Katerina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Antoniou
authors.affiliation: Dept of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Pneumologie, Hopital Tenon, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cadranel
authors.affiliation: The Aldred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia Members of the writing group of the task force.
authors.forename: Tamera J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Corte
authors.affiliation: Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Dept of Occupational Medicine, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Roland M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: du Bois
authors.affiliation: Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA Members of the writing group of the task force.
authors.forename: Joyce S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Leslie
authors.affiliation: Dept of Radiology, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Mayo College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Eric L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Matteson
authors.affiliation: University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mosca
authors.affiliation: Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Imre
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Noth
authors.affiliation: Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Richeldi
authors.affiliation: Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA Members of the writing group of the task force.
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Strek
authors.affiliation: Dept of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA Members of the writing group of the task force.
authors.forename: Jeffrey J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Swigris
authors.affiliation: Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Athol U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Sterling G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: West
authors.affiliation: Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA Members of the writing group of the task force Task force vice-chairs, and contributed equally to this manuscript.
authors.forename: Harold R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Collard
authors.affiliation: Service de Pneumologie, Hopital L. Pradel, Lyon, France Members of the writing group of the task force Task force vice-chairs, and contributed equally to this manuscript.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cottin
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000737:chemistry; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D015551:Autoimmunity; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D054988:Idiopathic Interstitial Pneumonias / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015272:Pulmonary Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies