Ubiquitinated inclusions in inclusion-body myositis patients are immunoreactive for cathepsin D but not beta-amyloid.

The nature of the inclusions in the human muscle disease inclusion-body myositis (IBM) has been the subject of debate. Parallels with Alzheimer's disease have been drawn after these inclusions were found to be ubiquitinated, and immunoreactive with antibodies to beta-amyloid (A beta) and certain amyloid-associated proteins. We have used a battery of antibodies against A beta and associated proteins to immunostain muscle biopsies from patients with IBM. Although the inclusions are ubiquitinated, we could not show immunoreactivity for A beta or the associated proteins investigated. We did, however, find that the ubiquitinated inclusions colocalised with the lysosomal marker, cathepsin D.