Fig. 2

The time variability monitoring of B-cell activating factor of the tumour necrosis factor family (BAFF), anti-Jo-1-antibodies, and creatine kinase (CK) levels in serum of patients with myositis (dermatomyositis (DM) = 6; polymyositis (PM) = 6) longitudinally followed from an early period of disease (1.0 ± 1.4 months after diagnosis determination) receiving therapy. The dosage of glucocorticoids (GC) or treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) from respective time points of sampling is listed under each graphical window. All patients except one had interstitial lung disease (ILD) as expressed in the graphical titles. The serum levels of BAFF (plain red lines) show similar course within time with CK (dash-and-dotted green lines) as well as with anti-Jo-1 (broken black lines) in the majority of cases. Left ordinate shows the anti-Jo-1 autoantibody levels in serum and right ordinate shows the serum levels of BAFF or CK. The abscissae show time intervals in months. MTX methotrexate; AZA azathioprine, CsA cyclosporine A, CYC cyclophosphamide, HCQ hydroxychloroquine