Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltrates in salivary and lacrimal glands. Clinical manifestations range from ocular and oral dryness to vasculitis and severe fatigue. pSS is a disease with heterogeneous symptoms and a variable response to the available treatment. Recently, a key role for Interferon (IFN) type I has been implicated in the pathogenesis of pSS. As type I IFN consists of 17 different subtypes, it cannot be easily assessed using a conventional ELISA. Therefore the expression of type I IFN inducible genes-the so-called type I IFN signature-is assessed in salivary gland tissue and blood from patients as a readout for type I IFN activity. In this review we discuss the potential of type I IFN as a novel biomarker for disease activity, subclassification of patients, prediction of therapy response and most importantly as a target for therapeutic intervention.

, , , , ,
doi.org/10.1586/1744666X.2014.876364, hdl.handle.net/1765/73017
Expert Review of Clinical Immunology
Department of Immunology

Brkic, Z., & Versnel, M. (2014). Type I IFN signature in primary Sjögren's syndrome patients. Expert Review of Clinical Immunology (Vol. 10, pp. 457–467). doi:10.1586/1744666X.2014.876364