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The most frequent autoimmune adult inflammatory myopathies are dermatomyositis, polymyositis, inclusion body myositis, and sarcoid myopathy. Interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) is a pleiotropic molecule, implicated in the inflammatory process, but also in tissue protection and remodelling. We evaluated the immunocytochemical expression of IL‐1α and β in frozen muscle biopsy specimens from patients with dermatomyositis (15 cases), polymyositis (five cases), inclusion body myositis (five cases) and sarcoid myopathy (five cases). Positive immunoreactivities, were observed in both inflammatory cells and muscle fibres. Specificity of the immunostaining was assessed by Western blot experiments. IL‐1 positive inflammatory cells were rare in polymyositis and inclusion body myositis, moderately abundant in dermatomyositis, and prominent in sarcoid myopathy granulomas. In sarcoid myopathy, 24.6±4.1% inflammatory cells …