Research Summary
Dr. Christopher-Stine’s primary research focus is clinical research pertaining to inflammatory myopathies – specifically describing unique phenotypes, novel therapeutic approaches, and novel disease subsets among patients with inflammatory myopathies. Dr. Christopher-Stine is the principal investigator of a growing cohort of over 3000 patients evaluated clinically for confirmed or suspected muscle disease at the Myositis Center who agree to be part of the Johns Hopkins Myositis Research Registry. Dr. Christopher-Stine and her colleagues made the novel discovery of an autoimmune myopathy closely linked to statins. She has a continued interest in statins and their toxicities toward muscle, both as a direct muscle toxin as well as its contribution to autoimmune muscle injury.
Dr. Christopher-Stine and her team are currently investigating several area of interest regarding the inflammatory myopathies. They are interested in cardiovascular complications in the inflammatory myopathies, the contribution of the skin and gut microbiome to myositis phenotypes, and they remain interested in predicting clinical outcomes. In addition, they have investigated the burden of calcinosis in adult dermatomyositis by patient self-report and utilized novel imaging modalities to examine the extent of calcinosis in these patients. In addition, as patient reported outcomes are growing increasingly important, especially in the context of clinical trials, they are an increasing focus of investigative efforts at the Myositis Center. Specifically, Dr. Christopher-Stine and her team are undertaking an international effort to determine the most appropriate patient-driven outcome measures in the inflammatory myopathies.
Technology Expertise Keywords
Anti-HMGCR autoantibodies
Clinical Trial Keywords
Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Inclusion Body Myositis, Inflammatory Myopathy, Necrotizing Myopathy, Statin Myopathy
Selected Publications
View all on PubMed
- Christopher-Stine L, Astor B Petri M, Fine D. Protein:Creatinine Ratio is A Reliable Measure of Proteinuria in Lupus Nephritis. J Rheumatol 2004;31:1557-9.
- Kalluri M, Sahn SA, Oddis CV, Gharib, Christopher-Stine, L, Danoff SK, Casciola-Rosen L, Hong G3, Dellaripa PF, Highland KB. Clinical profile of anti-PL-12 autoantibody: Cohort Study and Review of the Literature. Chest. 2009 Jun;135(6):1550-6.
- Valiyil R, Hong G, Casciola- Rosen L, Mammen AL, Christopher-Stine, L. Rituximab is an Effective Therapy for Myopathy Associated with Anti-Signal Recognition Particle Antibodies: A Case Series. Arthritis Care Res. 2010 Sep;62(9):1328-34
- Christopher-Stine L, Hong G, Casciola-Rosen L, Corse A, Mammen AL. A novel autoantibody recognizing 200 and 100 kDa proteins is associated with an immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy. Arthritis Rheum. 2010 Sep;62(9):2757-66
- Mammen AL, Chung T, Christopher-Stine L, Rosen P, Rosen A, Casciola-Rosen LA. Autoantibodies against 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme a reductase (HMGCR) in patients with statin-associated autoimmune myopathy. Arthritis Rheum. 2011 Mar;63(3):713-21.
- Petri MA, Kiani AN, Post W, Christopher-Stine L, Magder LS. Lupus Atherosclerosis Prevention Study (LAPS).Ann Rheum Dis. 2011 May;70(5):760-5.
- Mammen AL, Gaudet D, Brisson D, Christopher-Stine L, Lloyd TE, Leffell MS, Zachary AA. Increased frequency of DRB1*11:01 in anti-HMG-CoA reductase-associated autoimmune myopathy. Arthritis Care Res. 2012 Aug;64(8):1233-7.
- Casciola-Rosen L, Hall JC, Christopher-Stine L, Mammen AL, Rosen A. Isolated elevation of aldolase in the serum of myositis patients: a potential biomarker of damaged early regenerating muscle cells. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2012 Jul-Aug;30(4):548-53.
- Werner JL, Christopher-Stine L, Ghazarian SR, Pak KS, Kus JE, Daya NR, Lloyd TE Mammen AL. Antibody Levels Correlate with Creatine Kinase Levels and Strength in Anti-HMG-CoA Reductase-Associated Autoimmune Myopathy. Arthritis Rheum. 2012 Dec;64(12):4087-93.
- Alexanderson H, Del Grande M, Bingham III CO, Orbai AM, Sarver C, Clegg-Smith K, Lundberg IE, Song YW, Christopher-Stine L. Patient Reported outcomes and Adult Patients’ disease experience in the Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies. A report from the OMERACT 11 Myositis Special Interest Group. J Rheumatol. 2014 Apr;41(4):792-8.
- ENMC Myositis Muscle Biopsy Study Group. 193rd ENMC International workshop pathology diagnosis of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies 30 November – 2 December 2012, Naarden, The Netherlands. Neuromuscular Disorders 2013 (23): 945–951.
- Fiorentino DF, Chung LS, Christopher-Stine L, Zaba L, Li S, Mammen AL, Rosen A, Casciola-Rosen L.Most patients with cancer-associated dermatomyositis have antibodies to nuclear matrix protein NXP-2 or transcription intermediary factor 1-gamma. Arthritis Rheum. 2013 Nov;65(11):2954-62.
- Sharma K, Orbai AM, Desai D, Cingolani OH, Halushka MK, Christopher-Stine L, Mammen AL, Wu KC, Zakaria S. Brief Report: Antisynthetase Syndrome-Associated Myocarditis. J Card Fail. 2014 Jul 29
- Johnson C, Connors GR, Oaks J, Han S, Truong A, Richardson B, Lechtzin N, Mammen AL, Casciola-Rosen L, Christopher-Stine L, Danoff SK. Clinical and pathologic differences in interstitial lung disease based on antisynthetase antibody type. Respir Med. 2014 Sep 18
- Christopher-Stine L. Siedner M, Lin J, Haas M, Parekh H, Petri M, Fine DM. Renal Biopsy in Lupus Patients with Low Levels of Proteinuria. J Rheumatol. 2007 Feb;34(2):332-5.
- Hall JC, Casciola-Rosen L, Samedy LA, Werner J, Oyoyemi K, Danoff SK, Christopher-Stine L. Anti melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5-associated dermatomyositis: expanding the clinical spectrum. Arthritis Care Res. 2013 Aug;65(8):1307-15.
- Lloyd TE* , Christopher-Stine L*, Penal-Fernandez I, Tiniakou E, Petri M, Baer A, , Danoff SK, Pak K, Casciola-Rosen L , and Mammen AL . Cytosolic 5’-nucleotidase 1A is a common target of circulating autoantibodies in several autoimmune diseases; Arthritis Rheum , 2015 Apr 17(Epub)
