Acknowledgment We thank Dott Antonina Minniti for her help in preparing the manuscript. The introduction of biological treatments that target leukocytes and their cytokine products has led to a major change in the management of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, among them…
In the past decade, the treatment of autoimmune diseases [such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Crohn disease] has fundamentally changed with the introduction of targeted therapies. On the contrary, the treatment of Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) and especially the eye and…
1 Therapeutic Potential for B-Cell Modulation in Sjögren’s Syndrome Critical dysregulated immune pathways, including the key role of B cells as well as the ectopic lymphoneogenesis, are involved in primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) pathogenesis. B cells may provide a critical…
1 Current Outcome Measures in Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome 1.1 Symptoms Evaluation of the three main symptoms of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS): dryness, pain, and fatigue, is pivotal, because these concerns are shared by all patients with pSS, in contrast to…
1 Background of Autoantibodies SSA/B Initial pioneering studies in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) noticed that patient sera could react with the nucleus of acetone-fixed nucleated cells using an immunofluorescent assay (IFA) ( Fig. 16.1 ). A series of different patterns…
1 Introduction Cytokines are the mediators of the immune system. They are small proteins of around 25 kD that are produced in response to a stimulus (ie, invading microbes) by numerous cell types. They mediate and regulate immune responses, inflammatory…
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1 Introduction In the last few decades, T lymphocytes have been widely investigated in the pathogenic scenario of autoimmune diseases. To date, a consistent body of evidence points out the key role of this arm of the immune system in…
1 Introduction Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease with heterogeneous clinical pictures, which extend from benign local exocrinopathy that affects primarily the salivary and lachrymal glands to systemic disorder, and in approximately 5% of patients evolves to B-cell malignancies.…
1 Introduction The formation of periductal lymphocytic infiltrates within the inflamed salivary glands represents the histological hallmark of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS). Lymphomonocytic aggregates can spread within the tissue, affecting salivary gland morphology and function. On a discrete percentage of…