Dermatomyositis and dermatitis herpetiformis

Abstract

Primary hypothyroidism, dermatomyositis, dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), and Sjögren's syndrome developed sequentially, over a 20-year period, in a 67-year-old woman. The principal manifestations of her illness were periodic and simultaneous exacerbations of dermatomyositis and DH. Her histocompatability antigens were A1,B8, a haplotype associated with autoimmune diseases. We suggest that this unusual disease complex has a genetic basis.

Clinical, pathologic, and immunopathologic features of dermatitis herpetiformis: review of the Mayo Clinic experience*,†

“…Anecdotal cases of dermatomyositis and polymyositis have been reported in association with DH 44,53,54 . We describe another case of polymyositis (0.4%) in association with DH.…”

Dermatomyositis in patients with autoimmune blistering diseases

“…The first case report of any association of AIBD with DM was a case of dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) in a 67-year-old woman in whom DM preceded the manifestations of DH by 4 years (White, 1982). Eleven subsequent cases of AIBD associated with DM have since been reported.…”

Dermatomyositis related to autoimmune thyroiditis

“…A total of 11 patients 8–12 who met our criteria were included. Two patients were excluded because of insufficient data, 13,14 and one case with juvenile DM and subclinical hypothyroidism was also excluded 15 .…”

“…Recently, it has been generally accepted that autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT), an organ‐specific autoimmune disease, may often become related to systemic autoimmune diseases, for instance, SLE, PSS and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) 5–7 . However, the reports on the association of DM with AIT are very few, to our knowledge, the association between them has been reported in six cases 8–12 . From these limited evidences, a cross‐linkage of autoimmune disease or a common genetic basis, may be present in these patients, although we can not exclude the possibility that the relationship represents a random finding.…”