Polymyositis (PM)

Causes/Inheritance

In most cases, the cause of an inflammatory myopathy like polymyositis (PM) is unclear. For some reason, the body’s immune system turns against its own muscles and damages muscle tissue in an autoimmune process.

Viruses might be a trigger for autoimmune myositis. People with the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, can develop a myositis, as can people with a virus called HTLV-1. Some myositis cases have followed infection with the Coxsackie B virus.

There are reports of myositis following exposure to certain drugs. Among the drugs that have been suspected of contributing to myositis are carticaine (a local anesthetic), penicillamine (a drug used to lower copper levels in the body), interferon-alpha (mostly used to treat cancer and hepatitis), cimetidine (used to treat ulcers), carbimazole (to treat thyroid disease), phenytoin (used to treat seizures) and growth hormone. The vaccine for hepatitis B also has been implicated in some cases.

Recent research suggests that the mixing of blood cells of a mother and a fetus during pregnancy could lead to the later development of an autoimmune disease such as myositis in the mother or the child.

Although inflammatory myopathies like PM aren’t genetic, there may be genetic factors that make it more or less likely that an inflammatory myopathy will develop.