Project description:Objective Neutrophils and aberrant NETosis have been implicated in the pathogenesis of diverse autoimmune diseases, however, their roles in primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) remain unclear. We aimed to reveal the potential roles of neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in this study. Methods pSS patients were enrolled according to the corresponding diagnostic criteria. NETosis markers were measured in plasma and small salivary gland using ELISA and immunofluorescence. The gene signatures of neutrophils were assessed by RNA-Seq and RT-PCR. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial ROS (mitoROS) production and JC-1 was measured by flow cytometry. Results NETosis markers including cell free-DNA (cf-DNA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) in plasma and small salivary gland from pSS patients were significantly higher than healthy controls (HCs) and were associated with disease activity. RNA sequencing and RT-qPCR revealed activated Type I IFN signaling pathway and higher expression of type I interferon related genes in pSS neutrophils. Further stimulating with IFN-α 2a in vitro significantly induced ROS production and JC-1 monomer percentage in pSS neutrophils. Conclusions Our data suggest the involvement of neutrophils and enhanced NETosis in pSS patients. Further mechanism study in vitro revealed that type I IFN activation in pSS neutrophils led to mitochondrial damage and related ROS production which finally result in the generation of NETs.
Project description:Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a chronic autoimmune disease with complex etiopathogenesis. Here we use Affymetrix U133 plus 2.0 microarray gene expression data from human parotid tissue. Parotid gland tissues were harvested from 17 pSS and 14 14 non-pSS sicca patients and 18 controls. The data were used in the following article: Nazmul-Hossain ANM, Pollard RPE, Kroese FGM, Vissink A, Kallenberg CGM, Spijkervet FKL, Bootsma H, Michie SA, Gorr SU, Peck AB, Cai C, Zhou H, Horvath S, Wong DTW (2012) Systems Analysis of Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome Pathogenesis in Salivary Glands: Comparative Pathways and Molecular Events in Humans and a Mouse Model. Parotid gland tissues were harvested from 17 pSS and 14 non-pSS sicca patients and 18 controls.
Project description:To study the difference of gene expression profile in minor salivary glands of female patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) and healthy volunteers
Project description:The IFN type I signature is present in over half of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) patients and associated with higher disease-activity and autoantibody presence. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are considered to be the source of enhanced IFN type I expression. The objective of this study was to unravel the molecular pathways underlying IFN type I bioactivity in pDCs of pSS patients. We used microarray gene expression analysis to detail the programme of gene expression underlying IFN type I bioactivity in pDCs of primary Sjogrens' Syndrome patients.
Project description:To reveal the role of DNA methylation in peripheral monocytes (Mo) of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) patients, monocyte DNAs from 11 pSS patients and 5 matched controls were analyzed by methylation microarray. In total, we identified 1977 hypomethylated and 842 hypermethylated differentially methylated positions (DMPs) in Mo from pSS patients compared to healthy controls.
Project description:Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by exocrine glands damage and extraglandular manifestations. To identify potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of pSS and further investigate the potential mechanisms in progression of the disease, we combined our previous RNA- sequencing study and four microarrays data to conduct integrative transcriptome analyses in salivary glands (SGs) between the pSS and non-pSS. Differential gene expression analysis, gene co-expression network analysis and pathway analysis were conducted to detect hub gene, which was subsequently validated in peripheral blood. Correlation analysis, single-gene Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were applied to investigate the role of ICOS in pSS and its classification capacity for pSS.
Project description:Genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation profiles from patients with Sjögren's syndrome with high versus low fatigue levels using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 Beadchip array. Background Chronic fatigue is a common, disabling, and poorly understood phenomenon. Recent studies indicate that epigenetic mechanisms may be involved in the expression of fatigue, a prominent feature of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS). The aim of this study was to investigate whether DNA methylation profiles of whole blood are associated with fatigue in patients with pSS. Methods 48 pSS patients with high (n=24) or low (n=24) fatigue as measured by a visual analogue scale were included. Genome-wide DNA methylation was investigated using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array.
Project description:Previously M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptore (M3R) reactive Th1 cells were identified, and here, M3R reactive Th17 cells were identified in peripheral blood of primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients using ELISpot method. To assess TCR repertoire overlap between identified M3R reactive Th17 cells, and salivary gland infiltrating T cells, we performed high throughput TCR sequencing of those cells from pSS patient.
Project description:Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of the exocrine glands and prominent B cell hyperactivity. B cells are crucial in the pathophysiology of pSS through several mechanisms, including cytokine production, exocrine gland destruction, and autoantibody secretion. Considering the central role of B cells we performed RNA-sequencing analysis of circulating CD19+ B cells from patients with pSS, non-Sjögren’s sicca (nSS), and healthy controls (HC).