Poster presenter: Charlotta Preger, MSc, Karolinska Institute
Poster title: Autoantigenic Properties Indicated for the Entire Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetase Family in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies
Poster Session A
8:30 – 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 6
All ACR Convergence 2021 poster presentations are available on demand to registered meeting participants through March 11, 2022.
What is your poster about?
In this study, we have found new autoantigens in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. More specifically, we investigated the presence of autoantibodies targeting all human cytoplasmic aminoacyl tRNA synthetases in a well-characterized myositis cohort. We found reactivity to nine additional aminoacyl tRNA synthetases besides the eight generally described autoantigens in myositis.
Why did you decide to investigate this topic?
In our research group, we are studying idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and anti-synthetase syndrome to try to understand the pathogenesis and the disease better. Today, we are using the presence of autoantibodies as one way to stratify patients into subgroups within myositis, but there are still many patients that test seronegative. Until now, we have known of eight aminoacyl tRNA synthetases that are autoantigens in myositis, with Jo1 being one of the most common. However, these proteins belong to a family of 19 aminoacyl tRNA synthetases and, therefore, we hypothesized that there could be more autoantigens to discover within this family in myositis.
What are you working on next related to this research?
We will continue to study these new findings and screen a larger cohort of patients. In the future, we will continue to investigate the aminoacyl tRNA synthetase family and their connection to autoimmune disease — hopefully to understand more of the pathogenesis of the disease, which could lead to a more personalized treatment.
What excites you most about your work?
Personally, since I’m mainly working in a research lab, it’s always very exciting to have a first look at the data from your experiments. But in the bigger picture, the best part is, of course, to contribute to the further understanding of the disease and hopefully contribute to discoveries that might help treating patients in a clinical setting.
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