Newer Autoantibodies and Laboratory Assessments in Myositis

We aim to describe the immunoassays that have been used for myositis autoantibody discovery with a focus on newer methods. We describe recently identified myositis autoantibodies that do not yet form part of routine clinical testing, highlighting what is known about their associated clinical phenotype and potential clues as to their presence.

Novel approaches to autoantibody detection have been employed in recent years including chemiluminescent immunoassay, phage immunoprecipitation-sequencing and modifications to the more traditional immunoprecipitation technique. This has led to the discovery of novel autoantibodies, including novel anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase autoantibodies and autoantibodies which modify cancer risk for patients with anti-TIF1ɣ associated dermatomyositis.

New approaches to novel autoantibody detection have facilitated autoantibody discovery and will enable the identification of autoantibodies to a broader range of autoantigens. Challenges remain in translating this knowledge into accessible testing particularly given the rarity of most recently discovered autoantibodies.