Sjögren’s syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease that disproportionately affects women (female: male ratio=10:1), with diagnosis usually occurring in middle age. The disease involves dysfunction of the salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to chronic dry eye and dry mouth. However, it can also be systemic, with multi-organ involvement and potentially increased mortality. The glandular disease is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration, ectopic lymphoid structure formation and autoantibody production. There is an increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, most likely stemming from persistent B-cell autoantigenic stimulation. In addition, many patients suffer from debilitating fatigue and cognitive difficulties. The etiology of Sjögren’s syndrome is thought to be multi-factorial with genetic, epigenetic and environmental contributions. Currently, there is no known cure for the disease and treatments are mainly palliative.
Clinical trials have, to date, failed to produce a disease-modifying treatment for Sjögren’s syndrome. This is due in part to the heterogeneity of the patient populations and our current inability to select patients for trial inclusion with reversible glandular dysfunction as required for measures of efficacy. Many of the trial therapeutics were chosen due to their efficacy in other autoimmune diseases, rather than being based on strong experimental evidence that they would be relevant to unique Sjögren’s syndrome disease processes. This clearly demonstrates the need to better define the pathogenic mechanisms of this disease as well as the development of tailored composite outcome parameters.
The aim of the current Research Topic is to serve as a platform for Sjögren’s syndrome researchers to collectively present recent work that advances our understanding of this complex disease. It will serve to address the underlying drivers and mechanisms of immune dysregulation, the identification of novel biomarkers, autoantibody specificities and potential therapeutic targets specific to the pathogenesis of Sjögren’s syndrome and to highlight promising new treatments.
We invite contributions to this article collection exploring Sjögren’s syndrome in the form of General Commentary, Original Research, Review/Mini Review, Case Report, Perspective, Clinical Trial, Study Protocol, Classification and Methods articles. We welcome manuscripts related to, but not limited to:
• Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms
• Metabolic Studies
• Autoantibodies and Autoantigens
• Genetic and Epigenetic Studies
• Mechanisms for Sexual Dimorphism
• Environmental Influences
• Epithelial and Immune Cell Pathways
• New Therapies and Treatments
• Outcome parameters
Dr. Baer is the site PI for a clinical trial investigating treatments related to Sjogren's Syndrome, in conjunction with Viela Bio. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with relation to the topic theme.
Sjögren’s syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease that disproportionately affects women (female: male ratio=10:1), with diagnosis usually occurring in middle age. The disease involves dysfunction of the salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to chronic dry eye and dry mouth. However, it can also be systemic, with multi-organ involvement and potentially increased mortality. The glandular disease is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration, ectopic lymphoid structure formation and autoantibody production. There is an increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, most likely stemming from persistent B-cell autoantigenic stimulation. In addition, many patients suffer from debilitating fatigue and cognitive difficulties. The etiology of Sjögren’s syndrome is thought to be multi-factorial with genetic, epigenetic and environmental contributions. Currently, there is no known cure for the disease and treatments are mainly palliative.
Clinical trials have, to date, failed to produce a disease-modifying treatment for Sjögren’s syndrome. This is due in part to the heterogeneity of the patient populations and our current inability to select patients for trial inclusion with reversible glandular dysfunction as required for measures of efficacy. Many of the trial therapeutics were chosen due to their efficacy in other autoimmune diseases, rather than being based on strong experimental evidence that they would be relevant to unique Sjögren’s syndrome disease processes. This clearly demonstrates the need to better define the pathogenic mechanisms of this disease as well as the development of tailored composite outcome parameters.
The aim of the current Research Topic is to serve as a platform for Sjögren’s syndrome researchers to collectively present recent work that advances our understanding of this complex disease. It will serve to address the underlying drivers and mechanisms of immune dysregulation, the identification of novel biomarkers, autoantibody specificities and potential therapeutic targets specific to the pathogenesis of Sjögren’s syndrome and to highlight promising new treatments.
We invite contributions to this article collection exploring Sjögren’s syndrome in the form of General Commentary, Original Research, Review/Mini Review, Case Report, Perspective, Clinical Trial, Study Protocol, Classification and Methods articles. We welcome manuscripts related to, but not limited to:
• Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms
• Metabolic Studies
• Autoantibodies and Autoantigens
• Genetic and Epigenetic Studies
• Mechanisms for Sexual Dimorphism
• Environmental Influences
• Epithelial and Immune Cell Pathways
• New Therapies and Treatments
• Outcome parameters
Dr. Baer is the site PI for a clinical trial investigating treatments related to Sjogren's Syndrome, in conjunction with Viela Bio. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with relation to the topic theme.
