Inflammatory myopathies, Thyroid and Cancer: an autoimmune triangle
Thyroid disorders are a well known cause of myopathy, and the presence of autoantibodies directed against thyroid tissue is one of the main causes of this dysfunction. In this study, authors investigate the presence of thyroid disease in a large series of patients diagnosed with inflammatory myopathies and explore the hypothesis that the occurrence of thyroid disease could be a cause of relapse and bad response to conventional therapy in these patients.
The results obtained after a whole data analysis confirmed the initial hypothesis of the authors which conclude that thyroid disorders are clinically relevant in patients with inflammatory myopathy. A serendipity finding was that autoantibodies against thyroid were significantly associated with cancer, as has been finding by other authors in patients with breast cancer.
