Publications by authors named "Jon Musai"
Article Synopsis
- This review provides an updated overview of autoimmune myopathies, focusing on risk factors, autoantibodies, and recent treatment advancements.* -
- Recent findings show that myositis-specific autoantibodies disrupt muscle cell function, greatly impacting disease development.* -
- Innovative treatments like CD19 CAR-T cell therapy and JAK-STAT inhibitors offer new strategies for managing myositis, while challenges with older therapies provide insights into disease mechanisms.*
Objectives: Autoantibodies targeting intracellular proteins are common in various autoimmune diseases. In the context of myositis, the pathologic significance of these autoantibodies has been questioned due to the assumption that autoantibodies cannot enter living muscle cells. This study aims to investigate the validity of this assumption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/purpose: Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) affects up to 70% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and type I interferons (IFNs) are important promoters of SLE and CLE. Our previous work identified IFN-kappa (IFN-κ), a keratinocyte-produced type I IFN, as upregulated in non-lesional and lesional lupus skin and as a critical regulator for enhanced UVB-mediated cell death in SLE keratinocytes. Importantly, the molecular mechanisms governing regulation of IFN-κ expression have been relatively unexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Myositis is an autoimmune muscle disease characterized by autoantibodies that target proteins within muscle cells, but their impact on disease development was previously unclear.* -
- This study utilized confocal microscopy and bulk RNA sequencing on muscle biopsies to investigate the presence and effects of these autoantibodies, revealing they accumulate in muscle fibers and disrupt the normal function of their target proteins.* -
- Findings showed that the internalization of these autoantibodies led to significant changes in gene expression and function, indicating that they play a crucial role in causing the pathology associated with myositis.*
Aberrant responses to UV light frequently lead to the formation of skin lesions and the activation of systemic inflammation in some autoimmune diseases, especially systemic lupus erythematosus. Whereas the effects of UV light on the skin have been studied for decades, only recently have some of the mechanisms that contribute to abnormal responses to UV light in patients with autoimmune diseases been uncovered. This review will discuss the biology of UV in the epidermis and discuss the abnormal epidermal and inflammatory mechanisms that contribute to photosensitivity.
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