Anti-MDA5 antibody-positive dermatomyositis with lethal progressive interstitial lung disease and advanced gastric cancer

Dermatomyositis (DM) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease often associated with internal malignancy and interstitial lung disease. The latter is found in about 50% of patients with DM and is a life-threatening complication of the disease [1]. Rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease (RP-ILD) associated with clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis (CADM) is often lethal, despite treatment by corticosteroid therapy combined with immunosuppressive drugs [2]. A number of autoantibodies can be detected in sera of patients with DM, some specific to RP-ILD. Recently, there have been reports that anti-melanoma differentiation-