Recurrent Bilateral Focal Myositis.

This report describes a rare case of recurrent bilateral focal myositis and its successful treatment via methotrexate. A 38-year-old man presented myalgia of the right gastrocnemius in May 2005. Magnetic resonance imaging showed very high signal intensity in the right gastrocnemius on short-tau inversion recovery images.

Clinical subsets associated with different anti-aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetase antibodies and their association with coexisting anti-Ro52.

Objective: To characterize clinical features of polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) patients with different anti-aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetase (ARS) antibodies and their association with anti-Ro52.

Methods: Autoantibodies in sera from 97 Japanese patients (36 PM, 56 DM, and 5 clinically amyopathic DM), who satisfied Bohan and Peter or modified Sontheimer's criteria, were characterized by immunoprecipitation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Clinical information was from medical records.

Protein profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells as a candidate biomarker for Behçet's disease.

Objectives: To investigate the pathophysiology of Behçet's disease (BD) and find biomarkers for the disease, we analysed protein profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).

Methods: Proteins, extracted from PBMCs, were comprehensively analysed in 16 patients with BD, 16 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 12 patients with Crohn's disease (CD), and 16 healthy control subjects (HC) by 2-dimensional differential gel electrophoResis (2D-DIGE). Differently expressed proteins were identified by mass spectrometry.

Comparative proteomic analysis of neutrophils from patients with microscopic polyangiitis and granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

Unlabelled: Both microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) belong to ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), in which neutrophils play a key role in their pathology. In this study, in order to discriminate between MPA and GPA, protein profiles of peripheral blood polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) of 11 MPA patients and 9 GPA patients and 10 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed by 2D-DIGE. In all the 864 spots detected, intensity of 55 spots was significantly different (p<0.

Cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa associated with HLA-B39-positive undifferentiated spondyloarthritis in a Japanese patient.

We present the case of a 43-year-old man diagnosed with HLA-B39-positive spondyloarthritis who developed cutaneous lesions consistent with cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa (CPN). Previous studies indicated an elevated incidence of HLA-B39 in HLA-B27-negative Japanese patients with spondyloarthritis. This case suggested that CPN may also occur in association with forms of HLA-B39-positive spondyloarthritis.

[A case of primary Sjögren's syndrome complicated by chronic progressive myositis].

The patient was a 64-year-old woman with a nearly 20-year history of sicca symptoms, having been given a diagnosis of primary Sjögren's syndrome. Three years previously, she experienced difficulty in walking up a slope and had leg malaise, which insidiously progressed to an inability to go up and down stairs. This disability brought her to our hospital, where her muscle strength was examined by manual muscle testing, and she was found to have reduced muscle strength in proximal muscles like the thigh muscles and the neck flexor muscles.

[Review article: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody in small vessel vasculitis].

The vasculitides are defined by the presence of leukocytes in vessel walls with reactive damage to mural structures. Vasculitis may occur as a primary process or may be secondary to another underlying disease. In general, the affected vessels vary in size, type, and location in association with the specific vasculitic disorder.

Proteomic surveillance of autoantigens in patients with Behcet's disease by a proteomic approach.

To promote an understanding of autoimmunity in BD, we surveyed autoAgs in patients with BD and investigated the prevalence and clinical significance of the identified autoAbs. Specifically, proteins, extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and separated by 2DE, were subjected to WB, using five serum samples from patients with BD. The detected candidate autoAgs were identified by mass spectrometry.