New target for Sjogren's Syndrome research and treatment discovered

Red Blood Cells under microscope

There is much research being done to help discover the causes of Sjogren's Syndrome. 

One such study was Expression of Gαq Is Decreased in Lymphocytes from Primary Sjögren's Syndrome Patients and Related to Increased IL-17A Expression which was published in the Journal of Immunology Research June 7,  2018

Here you will find a brief explanation of this study.

What does the study show?

The role of Gαq in primary Sjogren's Syndrome (pSS.)

We showed that Gαq expression in PBMCs from patients with pSS was significantly lower than that in PBMCs from HCs. Gαq expression level was closely associated with pSS disease activity. 

This means that Gαq in the blood cells of people with Sjogren's Syndrome was lower than those of the control group. The lower the Gαq the worse the Sjogren's Syndrome symptoms were. 

What is Gαq?
It is a subunit of the Gq protein. It is found in rheumatic diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis which may be related to its regulation in Th17.  Gαq is found in several kinds of cells, including lymphocytes. 

Reasons for the study:
Specific details regarding the cause of  SS remain unknown. The diagnosis is often at a relatively late stage when irreversible damages of the glands already exist. This means that effective treatment strategies are limited compared with other rheumatic diseases. Intensive studies are trying to unravel the molecular, genetic, and immunological mechanisms for this disease and provide a better understanding about the causes of SS.

T helper type 17 (Th17), have been proven to be the main cells in causing inflammation and autoimmunity. Several studies have indicated that Th17 cells are increased in patients with pSS and involved in the glandular tissue damage of SS. Th17 is always found to be associated with the onset of gland destruction but how it is ordered in pSS remains unclear. 

A study about Th17 regulation in pSS may help us have a better understanding of pSS at an early stage before the onset of gland destruction and may help us explore more treatment targets in pSS.

Discussion:
Gαq was shown to be decreased in lymphocytes from RA patients, suggesting that Gαq is involved in the regulation of inflammatory arthritis development. 
pSS shares some similarities with RA and often coexists with RA. 

Our studies have shown that Gαq is decreased in both patients with pSS and patients with RA, suggesting that Gαq might contribute to the overlap in the pathogenesis mechanisms of pSS and RA. Furthermore, we found that Gαq expression was lower in patients with pSS with arthritis compared with that in those without arthritis, suggesting that a low expression level of Gαq may be used as a predictor for the presence of arthritis in pSS.

 Further studies are needed to confirm the ability of the Gαq level to predict arthritis in pSS.

Results of the study:

The data suggest that Gαq is involved in development of the disease pSS. This shows that Gαq can be used as a potential target in pSS research and treatment.

SEE STUDY INCLUDING METHODS