Sjögren syndrome is a autoimmune disease or chronic inflammation of exocrine glands results in tissue destruction and sicca symptoms, primarily of the mouth and eyes. Fatigue, arthralgia and myalgia are also common symptoms, whereas extraglandular manifestations that involve the respiratory, nervous and vascular systems occur in a subset of patients. The disease predominantly affects women, with an estimated female to male ratio of 14 to 1. Sjogren’s remains incompletely understood, and effective treatment is lacking.
Sjogren’s is more than SICCA (Dry eye, Dry Mouth). Sjogren’s is always systemic and should never be referred to as a “sicca syndrome.” Rheumatology care and education varies widely. Many systemic (non-sicca) manifestations tend to be overlooked. Life-threatening manifestations do occur. About 10% of Sjogren’s patients die from direct disease complications. https://lnkd.in/gmXPu5wU
But…Fortunately in 2023 there seems to more attention to Sjogren’s. Read below:
A recent study, Published: Added value of lymphocyte subpopulations in the classification of Sjögren’s syndrome”, the study confirmed the high degree of agreement between both classification criteria and clinical diagnosis, with 2002 AECG criteria having superior performance than 2016 ACR/EULAR criteria. When specific lymphocyte subpopulations were added to each set of criteria, the mathematical model showed an increase in the criteria performance in discriminating between SjS and Sicca patients.
Another recent study, Published: Genetics and epigenetics of primary Sjögren syndrome: implications for future therapies” conculdes, emerging genetic and epigenetic data in pSS highlight the polygenic nature of the disease, and the influence of environmental triggers as well as female sex on pSS development. The identified genetic and epigenetic signals hold promise for addressing the many unmet clinical needs in pSS, including possibilities for earlier diagnosis, novel tools for patient subphenotyping, prognostic markers for comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and lymphoma, and, ultimately, efficacious treatment to ameliorate disease activity, stop disease progression and rescue organ function.
The third study, gives an alternative treatment for Sjogren’s, Published: LAMP3 transfer via extracellular particles induces apoptosis in Sjögren’s disease, dicussion is: Although the pathogenic mechanism triggering SjD is not well understood, overexpression of lysosome-associated membrane protein 3 (LAMP3) is associated with the disease in a subset of SjD patients and the development of SjD-like phenotype in mice. In this study, histological analysis of minor salivary glands of SjD patients suggested that LAMP3-containing material is being ejected from cells.LAMP3 induced the increase in apoptosis through EP-mediated cell-to-cell communication. These results define a broader role of LAMP3 in the salivary glands of SjD patients. The findings provide support for targeting inhibition of LAMP3 expression and function as a therapeutic approach in the treatment of SjD.
As I mentioned, not all Rheumatologist may be on the same page with information but as a patient. You can do your part like take part in a clinical trial. If you are not sure how clinical trials work. Learn more at https://www.sjogrens.org/livingwith-sjogrens/clinical-trials. Calling shows companies patients are interested but calling does not mean you are enrolled autpmatically.
Listen to a real patient dealing with Sjogren’s on the Stronger Than Autoimmune Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7N2NMKoplrROLleHuEOFg9?si=sXUEJ4dKTSCoH89lSzbEZw
Please watch the video on my IG or LinkedIn for more information.
