A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
High activity of human cytomegalovirus in patients with Sjögren's disease
Authors: Pantalone, Mattia Russel; Xu, Xinling; Almazán, Nerea Martín; Gerstner, Christina; Fischer, Marie; Kvarnström, Marika; Söderberg-Nauclér, Cecilia; Wahren-Herlenius, Marie; Rahbar, Afsar
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Clinical Immunology
Journal name in source: Clinical Immunology
Article number: 110545
Volume: 279
ISSN: 1521-6616
eISSN: 1521-7035
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clim.2025.110545
Web address : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1521661625001202?via%3Dihub
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499246645
Sjögren's disease (SD) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by immune-mediated damage to salivary and lacrimal glands. This study aimed to explore the potential link between SD and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), by analyzing presence of HCMV proteins in salivary gland tissue specimens and prevalence of HCMV-specific antibodies in serum samples from SD patients and controls. HCMV-immediate early (IE) and late proteins (LA and pp65) were highly abundant in tissue specimens from SD patients (88.9 %, 69.2 %, 45.8 %, respectively), and less abundant in patients with Sicca symptoms without SD (70.5 %, 20.0 %, 12.5 %, respectively). Samples in the SD group were also positive at higher scores for the HCMV proteins than Sicca symptom patients without SD. IgM prevalence was higher in SD patients than in healthy controls (32.1 % vs. 13.4 %, P = 0.04) and HCMV-IgG titers were higher (P < 0.0001). Understanding the potential role of HCMV in SD pathogenesis may contribute to advancements in disease prevention and treatment.
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Funding information in the publication:
This study was supported by The Swedish Medical Research Council Grant # 2022–02724 and 2021–02503 and was financially supported by InFLAMES Flagship Programme of the Academy of Finland (decision number: 337530).