Similarities and differences between severe COVID-19 pneumonia and anti-MDA-5-positive dermatomyositis-associated rapidly progressive interstitial lung diseases: a challenge for the future

Abstract

We read with great interest the article by Megremis et al,1 who identified three immunogenic linear epitopes with high sequence identity to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins in patients with dermatomyositis (DM). Speculatively, this finding could indicate that latent exposure to the Coronaviridae family might contribute to musculoskeletal autoimmune disease development.1 Consequently, SARS-CoV-2 infection might mimic myositis and could also lead to catastrophic results in patients with DM with prior interstitial lung disease (ILD) manifestation.