ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Rheumatology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1581902
The feature and significance of lower limb MRI in adult myositis patients with anti-NXP2 antibody: a retrospective cohort study in China
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Rheumatology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
- 2Department of Neurology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
- 3Department of Radiology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
- 4School of Sport and Exercise Rehabilitation, Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China
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Objective: This study aimed to describe the MRI features of lower limbs (thighs and calves) in patients with anti-NXP2 antibody positive myositis, and explore their relationship with clinical manifestations and prognosis.Methods: Adult patients with anti-NXP2 antibody who underwent both thigh and calf MRI examinations simultaneously were enrolled between 2017 and 2023. The MRI features and medical records of patients were reviewed. Statistical analysis was conducted by SPSS 21.0.Results: A total of 48 patients (29 females and 19 males) were included in the study. There were fifteen and seven patients with subcutaneous edema on the thigh and calf MRI, respectively. The incidence of fascia edema in the thigh was higher than that in the calf (50.0% vs 22.9%, p = 0.006). All patients experienced varying degrees of thigh muscle edema, with 41 cases (85.4%) showing calf muscle edema on MRI. The primarily affected group in the thigh was the anterior muscle, while the anterior and posterior groups of the calf were equally affected. In addition, the inflammation score of muscle MRI was positively correlated with disease activity (r = 0.316, p = 0.029 ), the level of muscle enzymes, serum ferritin (r = 0.439, p = 0.002), D-dimer (r = 0.410, p = 0.004), and NSE ( r = 0.420, p = 0.006). Patients with diffuse pattern on MRI generally exhibited higher disease activity. However, there was no difference in the frequency of relapse and mortality between patients with and without diffuse lesions on MRI.Lower limb MRI of patients with anti-NXP2 antibody provided useful information in evaluating the extent and distribution of lesions. In addition, the degree of muscle edema on MRI was significantly correlated with various clinical features.
Keywords: Anti-nuclear matrix protein 2 antibody, Myositis, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, lower limb, Clinical feature
Received: 23 Feb 2025; Accepted: 14 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Wang, Sun, Zhang, Duan and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shanshan Li, Department of Rheumatology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
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