Therapeutic Effects of Treating COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Anti-TIF1-γ-Positive Dermatomyositis

Chih-Feng Wu; Wan-Ting Chen; Yen-Lin Chen; Feng-Cheng Liu

doi:10.3390/medicina59091688

Therapeutic Effects of Treating COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Anti-TIF1-γ-Positive Dermatomyositis

Medicina (Kaunas). 2023 Sep 20;59(9):1688. doi: 10.3390/medicina59091688.

Authors

Chih-Feng Wu¹, Wan-Ting Chen^{1

2}, Yen-Lin Chen³, Feng-Cheng Liu^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan.
² Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan.
³ Department of Pathology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan.
⁴ Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan.

Abstract

An increase in skin-related autoimmune disorders has been reported as an adverse effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. We present the case of a 90-year-old Taiwanese female who was newly diagnosed with anti-transcription intermediary factor 1-gamma (anti-TIF1-γ)-positive dermatomyositis (DM) after receiving a second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Under treatment with prednisolone and monoclonal antibody therapy of abatacept, her skin lesions improved, and her muscle power increased. The serum creatinine phosphokinase level decreased from 4858 to 220 U/L, and the anti-TIF1-γ antibody titer decreased from 202 to 99. Flow cytometry data showed an increase in T cells, while NK cells, B cells (CD19), and plasma blasts all decreased. These findings suggest that standard DM treatment might be beneficial to patients with COVID-19 vaccine-induced DM.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; dermatomyositis; immunotherapy.

Publication types

Case Reports

Grants and funding

This study was supported by research grants from Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST 111-2314-B-016-026) and National Science and Technology Council (NSTC 112-2314-B-016-033).