Sjögren’s Syndrome News

Researchers from the University of Toronto developed a new questionnaire to more accurately screen for rheumatic disease in the outpatient setting.

Using a methodology consistent with previous ACR and EULAR criteria, an international group of researchers developed and validated a new set of classification criteria for primary Sjögren’s syndrome, which was then approved by the ACR and EULAR.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Lupus Foundation of America released a report that showed biopharmaceutical research companies in the United States have 311 medicines and vaccines in clinical trials or pending review by the FDA for patients with autoimmune disease.

Patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome with positive autoantibodies demonstrated a low ankle-brachial index, which likely represents a higher chance for early atherosclerosis, according to recently published results.

There is a well-established body of evidence cataloguing the co-occurrence of autoimmune disorders. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune thyroiditis, Sjögren’s syndrome or a host of other such conditions carry a substantially increased risk for another autoimmune disease. Although some pairings are reported more frequently than others, the likelihood that a patient with any autoimmune disorder will ultimately acquire another autoimmune disorder is high. The question, then, is why.

In the Cover Story of this issue of Healio Rheumatology, we explore comorbid autoimmunity. We ask complex questions that basically come down to this: What does the presence or absence of such disorders tell us in terms of the nature of autoimmune and possibly autoinflammatory disease?

Recently published results showed salivary gland ultrasonography reliably assessed parenchymal inhomogeneity by multiple assessors among patients with established primary Sjögren’s syndrome.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis and secondary Sjögren’s syndrome may benefit from abatacept, which may be effective in treating symptoms of both conditions, according to recently published research.

Researchers of this study found the autoantibody poly(U)-binding-splicing factor 60 kDa presents distinctly in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome and dermatomyositis.

Patients with cancer treated with ipilimumab or nivolumab alone or in combination with each other experienced a higher than normal risk of developing autoimmune joint and tissue diseases, according to results recently published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.