Longitudinal interferon signatures are associated with disease flare in dermatomyositis

This study investigated the feasibility of predicting disease flares in dermatomyositis (DM) using interferon gene signatures from blood samples. Six female DM patients aged 46-72 years were enrolled and self-assessed their disease activity weekly for 6 months while collecting home-based blood microsamples. Three disease flares occurred during the follow-up period. Analysis of 54 samples from 9 timepoints using RNA sequencing showed that interferon scores were significantly higher in flare-associated samples compared to non-flare samples (P = 5.13 x 10E-4). Interferon alpha and interferon gamma gene signatures were particularly elevated before and during flares. The study demonstrated the technical feasibility of combining home-based blood microsampling with gene expression analysis for monitoring DM disease activity.