Respiratory Research (May 2024)

Clinical and prognostic associations of anti-Jo-1 antibody levels in patients with antisynthetase syndrome

  • Hongxia Yang,
  • Qingning Chen,
  • Chao Sun,
  • Qiwen Jin,
  • Lining Zhang,
  • Qingyan Liu,
  • Qinglin Peng,
  • Guochun Wang,
  • Xin Lu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-024-02851-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Objective To investigate the association of serum anti-Jo-1 antibody levels with the disease activity and prognosis in anti-Jo-1-positive patients with antisynthetase syndrome (ASS). Methods This study included 115 anti-Jo-1-positive patients with ASS who were admitted to China-Japan Friendship Hospital between 2009 and 2019. Anti-Jo-1 antibody serum levels at initial admission and follow-up were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Global and organ disease activity was assessed at baseline and follow-up according to the International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies guidelines. Results Among enrolled patients, 70 (60.9%) patients initially presented with interstitial lung disease (ILD), and 46 (40%) patients presented with with muscle weakness at initial admission. At baseline, patients with ILD had lower levels of anti-Jo-1 antibodies than those without ILD (p = 0.012). Baseline anti-Jo-1 antibody levels were higher in patients with muscle weakness, skin involvement, and arthritis (all p < 0.05) compared to those without these manifestations. Baseline anti-Jo-1 antibody levels were positively correlated with skin visual analogue scale (VAS) scores (r = 0.25, p = 0.006), but not with disease activity in other organs. However, changes in anti-Jo-1 antibody levels were significantly positively correlated with the changes in PGA (β = 0.002, p = 0.001), muscle (β = 0.003, p < 0.0001), and pulmonary (β = 0.002, p = 0.013) VAS scores, but not with skin and joint VAS scores. Older age of onset (hazard ratio [HR] 1.069, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.010–1.133, p = 0.022) and higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (HR 1.333, 95% CI: 1.035–1.717, p = 0.026) were risk factors for death. Conclusion Anti-Jo-1 titers appear to correlate more with disease activity changes over time rather than with organ involvement at baseline, which provides better clinical guidance for assessing the disease course using anti-Jo-1 levels.

Keywords