Diffuse pruritic erythema as a clinical manifestation in anti-SAE antibody-associated dermatomyositis: a case report and literature review

Anti-small ubiquitin-like modifier-1 activating enzyme (anti-SAE) antibodies have been recently discovered especially for myosin and identified as dermatomyositis (DM) marker. The frequency of anti-SAE antibodies in DM patients is extremely low. Diffuse pruritic erythema may be one kind of clinical manifestations of DM with anti-SAE antibodies. In this report, a 48-year-old female patient with amyopathic dermatomyositis (ADM) carrying anti-SAE antibodies presented diffuse pruritic erythema for 5months. Diffuse pruritic erythema improved after treatment with prednisolone, cyclosporine, and thalidomide. The clinical characteristics of 75 previously reported cases with anti-SAE antibody-positive DM were reviewed, and the manifestations of the Asian and Western cohorts were compared. It was revealed that the Asian patients were more susceptible to diffuse erythema (17/34 vs. 3/41, P=0.000), dysphagia (16/34 vs. 10/41, P=0.040), and interstitial lung disease (ILD) (21/34 vs. 5/41, P=0.000) compared with the Western patients. The frequency of malignancy in the Asian cohort was significantly higher than that in the Western cohort (10/34 vs. 4/41, P=0.030).