Every year since 2001, 21 September has been International Myositis Awareness Day.
Myositis is an autoimmune muscle disease that can affect adults and children. It causes weakness, muscle wasting and fatigue, and sometimes affects the skin, heart and lungs. There are different forms of the disease (dermatomyositis, inclusion myositis, etc.), with different mechanisms and symptoms. A large number of drugs are already available to treat them, but research is continuing with the aim of advancing knowledge and further improving treatment.
In the current classification, the main forms of inflammatory myopathy are associated with myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSA):
- dermatomyositis, which can also affect children (juvenile dermatomyositis) and also involves skin involvement,
- sporadic inclusion myositis,
- overlapping myositis, of which antisynthetase syndrome is one form,
- autoimmune necrotising myopathy,
- polymyositis.
This classification and the criteria used to diagnose each type of myositis have evolved over the years, in line with advances in knowledge.
At the Institute
At the Center of Research of the Institute of Myology, the Inflammatory myopathies & innovative therapies team led by Prof. Olivier Benveniste is conducting research aimed at improving the treatment of myositis using a translational approach. To achieve this objective, the team uses its clinical database and biobank (1300 patients) to (i) define homogeneous groups of patients to (ii) identify biomarkers of prognosis and/or disease activity (iii) and characterise pathogenic mechanisms using in vivo and in vitro models to (iv) propose new therapeutic strategies.
Further details on Inflammatory myopathies & innovative therapies team
Ongoing clinical trials on myositis at the Institute of Myology
