Searching for protective factors against cancer risk in dermatomyositis

American researchers were interested in patients with dermatomyositis who did not develop cancers in addition to their muscle disease. Their immunological profile has been studied in the hope of identifying cancer risk factors other than the already known one of anti-TIF1-g autoantibody positivity:

  • 10 new autoantibodies have been identified in two distinct cohorts of patients with dermatomyositis according to the date of onset of the cancer (at the time of diagnosis or later).
  • the anti-CCAR1 autoantibody in particular appears to be protective.

The use of these new type immunological profiles will allow to better define protocols for the detection and monitoring of cancers in dermatomyositis.

 

Immune responses to CCAR1 and other dermatomyositis autoantigens are associated with attenuated cancer emergence. Fiorentino DF, Mecoli CA, Rosen MC, et al. J Clin Invest. 2022 Jan 18;132(2):e150201.

 

Using autoantibody signatures to define cancer risk in dermatomyositis. Turnier JL, Kahlenberg JM. J Clin Invest. 2022 Jan 18;132(2):e156025.