Clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with anti-PL-7 (anti-threonyl-tRNA synthetase) autoantibodies

OBJECTIVE: The clinical and laboratory features of seven Japanese patients with anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (ARS) autoantibodies against PL-7 (anti-threonyl-tRNA synthetase) were analyzed and compared with previously published findings. METHODS: Serum samples from 1,135 Japanese patients with various autoimmune diseases were screened for anti-PL-7 antibodies using RNA and protein immunoprecipitation assays. The patients whose sera contained anti-PL-7 antibodies were assessed regarding clinical symptoms and clinical course. RESULTS: Sera from seven patients were found to have anti-PL-7 antibodies. These autoantibodies were associated with polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and/or interstitial lung disease (ILD). The clinical diagnoses of these seven patients were PM - systemic sclerosis (SSc) overlap (5 patients), DM (1 patient) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) (1 patient). All patients had ILD with a chronic course and six also had arthritis (85%) and five sclerodactyly (71%). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that anti-PL-7 autoantibodies are closely associated with PM-SSc overlap as well as ILD, arthritis and sclerodactyly in our series of Japanese patients.