Determination of autoantibodies to salivary gland antigens

Abstract

Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease marked by dry mouth/dry eye symptoms as a result of the destruction of the salivary and lacrimal glands. Patients with pSS may be at risk for the development of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. Testing of autoantibodies in the oral fluid of patients with pSS or MALT lymphoma using immunoassays may lead to a simple and noninvasive clinical tool for diagnostic or prognostic applications. In this chapter, we describe the procedures and protocols for determining autoantibodies to salivary gland antigens with proteomics-related methods, including 2D gel electrophoresis, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), Western blotting, protein microarray, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).