Abstract

Laboratory evaluation of the inflammatory myopathies. L G Rider and F W Miller Molecular Immunology Laboratory, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. ABSTRACT The laboratory plays an important role in the diagnosis, evaluation, and classification of the heterogeneous group of diseases known as the IIM, which are characterized by chronic muscle inflammation. Serial measurements of the levels of muscle-derived enzymes in serum are the traditional laboratory studies used to follow the clinical course of patients with IIM, although other laboratory tests can also be useful in assessing myositis disease activity. Several markers of immune system activation, including cytokines and lymphocyte markers, show promise as possibly more sensitive measures of myositis disease activity. Discovery of a unique group of MSAs over the past decade has provided an immunologic basis for defining relatively homogeneous subsets of patients who share similar clinical features, disease courses, and responses to therapy. Future investigations of novel immunologic activation markers, as well as the cloning and expression of target autoantigens of the MSAs, should allow better diagnostic assays, enhanced prognosis, and a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders. CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article Clin Vaccine Immunol January 1995 vol. 2 no. 1 1-9 » Abstract PDF Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in ASM journals Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of CVI Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Citing articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rider, L. G. Articles by Miller, F. W. Search for related content PubMed PubMed citation Articles by Rider, L. G. Articles by Miller, F. W. Related Content Load related web page information Social Bookmarking CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? current issue November 2011, volume 18, issue 11 Alert me to new issues of CVI About CVI Subscribers Authors Reviewers Advertisers Inquiries from the Press Permissions & Commercial Reprints ASM Journals Public Access Policy CVI RSS Feeds 1752 N Street N.W. • Washington DC 20036 202.737.3600 • 202.942.9355 fax • journals@asmusa.org Print ISSN: 1556-6811 Online ISSN: 1556-679X Copyright © 2011 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to CVI .asm.org, visit: http://intl- CVI .asm.org | More Info» var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5821458-5"); pageTracker._trackPageview();