Autoantibodies Help Earlier Sjogren's Syndrome Diagnosis

Patients suffering from a painful autoimmune disease called Sjogren's Syndrome, will be diagnosed much earlier due to the discovery of novel antibodies in an animal model.

The discovery of the antibodies emerged from a collaboration between University at Buffalo (UB) School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (Buffalo, NY, USA) and Immco (Amherst, NY, USA), which resulted in a new, far superior animal model for Sjogren's Syndrome. New antibodies were seen in 45% of patients who met most of the clinical criteria for Sjogren's except for the antibodies currently required for diagnosis, called Ro and La. At least one of the novel antibodies is present in 76% of patients who have had symptoms for less than two years and who also lacked the two novel antibodies required for definitive diagnosis, which appear late in the disease.

Julian L. Ambrus Jr., MD, professor in the dept. of medicine and immunologist at Buffalo General Medical Center said. "Sjogren's disease in our animal model marches along in exactly the same way that the human disease does, reproducing every stage of the disease."

Labs studying Sjogren's around the world have now adopted the new model developed at UB and Immco (Amherst, NY, USA). Because Sjogren's syndrome presents with various symptoms, unlike other autoimmune diseases, the diagnostic test will be marketed to several types of physicians, including dentists, oral surgeons, ophthalmologists, and rheumatologists.

The assay will undergo validation by the New York State Department of Health. Once complete early next year, physicians will be able to start using the test. Patient samples from around the nation will be sent to Immco for testing. Immco is also developing a diagnostic kit for customers to be marketed internationally.

Sjogren's Syndrome is a chronic, slowly progressive, inflammatory autoimmune disorder characterized by the infiltration of specialized cells of the immune system called lymphocytes (T-cells in the majority of cases), monocytes, and plasma cells into the parotid glands, and lacrimal glands. Chronic pain is associated Sjogren's syndrome because of the lack of tears and saliva. The disease is associated with additional, systemic consequences, such as mild kidney and lung disease. Five to ten percent of Sjogren's patients will also develop lymphoma, cancer of the lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that is continually produced in Sjogren's Syndrome.

Patients suffering this disease will soon be able to be properly diagnosed and much earlier. "Sjogren's patients get diagnosed too late," said Prof Ambrus Jr., senior author on a paper in the December, 2013 issue of Clinical Immunology.

Related Links:
UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Immco