Towards the identification of novel autoantibodies in Sjögren’s syndrome

Abstract

Primary Sjögren’s syndrome may be difficult to diagnose when antibodies against Ro/SSA are lacking, and can be grouped in at least four clusters indicating different pathophysiological pathways. Novel biomarkers, in particular autoantibodies, would be helpful in diagnosing Sjögren’s syndrome and in further identification and characterisation of the clusters. In this review, we describe new technologies that may be utilised in the rapid identification of novel autoantibodies, and an example of how well characterised patients, here from the HarmonicSS cohort, are a prerequisite in the discovery of clinically meaningful biomarkers. This translational approach hold promise to optimise the diagnosis and treatment of individual pSS patient subsets.