TY - JOUR T1 - Antisynthetase syndrome positive for anti-threonyl-tRNA synthetase (anti-PL7) antibodies JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 714 LP - 717 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00104310 VL - 37 IS - 3 AU - B. Hervier AU - Y. Uzunhan AU - E. Hachulla AU - O. Benveniste AU - H. Nunes AU - P. Delaval AU - L. Musset AU - S. Dubucquoi AU - B. Wallaert AU - M. Hamidou Y1 - 2011/03/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/37/3/714.abstract N2 - To the Editors:Antisynthetase syndrome (ASS) is characterised by an inflammatory myositis associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and antisynthetase antibodies. Other symptoms, including arthritis, Raynaud's phenomenon and mechanic's hands, are also associated with ASS. Several antisynthetase antibodies 1 have been described, with anti-Jo1 being the most common. Little is known about the clinical manifestations of ASS associated with anti-threonyl-tRNA synthetase antibodies (anti-PL7) 2–4, most probably because anti-PL7 antibodies are particularly rare (5% of myositis 5) and have not been routinely researched in the past.We conducted this retrospective multicentric study to describe the clinical, radiographic and biological manifestations of ASS in 12 patients.This retrospective study was conducted in five university hospitals. The patients were followed from 2000–2010 in the Depts of Pneumology (n = 7) and Internal Medicine (n = 5). 16 anti-PL7 positive patients were identified due to immunological laboratory databases. To exclude false-positive patients, we only included patients who successively tested positive for anti-PL7 twice (n = 13): the three patients tested only once did not disclose any symptoms in accordance with ASS. We excluded one patient for whom clinical data were missing. The 12 included patients tested positive for anti-PL7 antibodies at least twice by immunodot (immuno-DOT D-tek; Diasorin, Antony, France) and/or Western blot using protein extracts from Hep2 cells (n = 7 and n = 5, respectively). They presented with one or more ASS symptoms, including ILD and/or myositis. A search for anti-DNA and anti-extractable nuclear antigen antibodies was systematically performed, whereas rheumatoid factor and anti-citrullinated peptide were available in four and two patients, respectively.The characterisation of the ILD pattern was made by several radiologists who were all experienced in ILD and were based on the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society 2002 consensus 6.Pulmonary hypertension was suspected by … ER -