Muscle biopsy specimens with a pronounced inflammatory component were evaluated for myocyte expression of class II histocompatibility antigens (HLA-DR) by immunohistochemical techniques. All 15 cases of polymyositis were positive; six cases of muscular dystrophy (two Duchenne, four facio-scapulo-humeral), and one case of acute denervation (motor neurone disease) were negative, despite having a ...

In the past three decades, not much has changed in the pathophysiologic concepts of dermatomyositis and polymyositis. However, in the past couple of years, many changes have occurred reflecting the extremely complex nature of the immune response in general. New pathophysiologic models are needed, but at present, none of them encompasses all the recent findings. The changing concepts of dermatom...

BACKGROUND The association of ovarian malignancy with dermatomyositis (DM) is well established from previous reports, while the relationship with polymyositis (PM) is rare. CASE REPORT We report a case of a 50 years old nulliparous woman who developed clear cell ovarian cancer four years after the PM diagnosis. The patient presented with deep lower abdominal pain and distension. CA-125 was el...

Introduction Polymyositis and dermatomyositis may be asscciated with autoimmune phenomena and with malignancy. The initiating factors are unclear; viral infections have been proposed (Pearson and Bohan, 1977) and a few cases have been associated with bacterial and parasitic infections (Naidoo and Chan, 1975; Kegen, Kimball and Christian, 1974; Greenlee et al., 1975; Samuels and Rietschel, 1976)...

Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) occurred in a 53-year-old woman with well-documented Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) and polymyositis (PM). BOOP has often been reported as a pulmonary manifestation of collagen vascular diseases, mainly rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the association of BOOP and PM has rarely been documented. A search of the literature showed only 16 case reports of...